Mythic Alliance
by Jendra
Summary: They say there's no such thing as a magical Animagus. They're wrong. Harry Potter, Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy join together in an alliance no one, especially Voldemort, is expecting. Severus/Harry mentor, Harry/Draco friends. No slash.
1. Chapter 1

Mythic Alliance is complete and I will try to post at least one chapter a week as I go over and edit it. It is the first of a trilogy (all three stories are complete), but I have tried my best to be sure it can be read completely on its own. This story is gen, with no pairings. The sequels are slash, but I don't believe there's any hint of that in this one. If you are in a hurry to read the whole thing, it can be found on my yahoogroup, Jendraslash.

This story was written several years ago, and takes place after Goblet of Fire. Nothing after Fourth Year will be canon. I welcome comments and critiques (though not flames). I hope you enjoy!

Harry Potter does not belong to me, though I could use some Rowling type money... but as it is, I receive none for this.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Severus Snape kept the sneer on his face as he stalked around the classroom. The year had just started and he'd decided to shake things up by designating partners to the Fifth Year Double Potions class. Pairing up Draco Malfoy with that odious Harry Potter had laid the basis for a lot of fun. Well for him at least. After all, he had to grasp what enjoyment he could, while he could, did he not?

His eyes were suddenly caught by a glimpse of orange behind the two students. He suddenly rethought his partner idea as he strode forward with a scowl. Whatever had possessed him to pair *those* two together?

"Mr. Crabbe! Mr. Longbottom! What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Snape watched in well hidden dismay as his ... forceful ... tone caused Neville Longbottom to turn quickly, bumping the cauldron, which certainly did _not_ contain the Hair-grow formula they were supposed to be making, and dumping its contents right onto the unfortunate students in front of him.

Potter and Malfoy jumped away with exclamations of disgust as their hands moved to wipe off the mess on their robes.

"Stop!" Snape barked out. His voice alone contained enough command, as well as enough magic, to freeze everyone in the classroom in place.

"Back away from the potion," Snape ordered. "Potter, Malfoy, go into my office and get out of those robes. Without," and that word had enough emphasis to be almost shouted, "_without_ touching the potion, or allowing it to get on bare skin. Weasley and Goyle will bring you new robes." Ron Weasley and Gregory Goyle ran out of the dungeon room as if they had DisApparated while Harry and Draco headed quickly but carefully towards the office. If Snape was that worried then they weren't going to argue. "The rest of you, get back to work. Ten points from Gryffindor for Mr. Longbottom's clumsiness and you and Mr. Crabbe may give me two feet of scroll on how exactly you changed a simple Hair-grow potion, which any first year should have been able to do competently, into a _contact poison_." He noticed Longbottom's sudden change from ruddy to ghost white with well concealed satisfaction. Maybe _this_ would finally get the impossible young man to pay attention in his class. Crabbe however, looked as uncomprehending as ever. Mentally the professor shook his head. No matter what some other teachers said, there _were_ such things as unteachable students, and Mr. Crabbe was a prime example.

As he was talking, he gathered several ingredients from the cupboards, including one from the locked cabinet that no one else was allowed into. After a few minutes of mixing and heating his cauldron he whispered a spell over the concoction he was creating. Once it cooled he ladled part of the potion into a jar and the rest into a spray bottle. The potion in the jar was dumped into the still seething, even though partially tipped over, cauldron, while the spray was used on the rest of the spill. He made sure to get every little bit of the potion, even that which spilled under the stools. Only after the poison was completely neutralized did he use a spell to clean it all up.

"Professor? Are they going to be all right?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"As long as they weren't stupid or careless enough to get any on their skin and removed their clothes before it soaked through, they will be fine." Snape answered absently.

"Professor?" Draco called from where his head was sticking through the office door. "I think you need to come here."

?/?/?/?/?/?

Draco had followed his rival into the Potion Professor's office. He noticed that Potter seemed a little nervous and gloatingly put it down to being in a room with him. After all, this was the 'Boy Who Lived', surely no little potion accident would make _him _nervous.

Draco carefully but hurriedly pulled off his outer robe. As he dropped it at his feet, he saw that he was none too soon. The liquid had already seeped through his outer robe and was spotting his inner one. Without hesitation, he pulled that off too and was soon shivering lightly in nothing but his underclothes.

Turning around, he was surprised to see his rival still slowly working on his outer robe. "You planning on getting that off anytime this century, Potter?" Draco asked with a sneer.

Harry glared but didn't move any faster.

"You do know it's soaking through your robes, don't you?" Draco asked with exaggerated patience. "Or perhaps you're just modest? Don't worry, I'm sure you don't have anything I don't have better." Draco smirked.

Harry blushed wildly and glared harder, but he didn't move any faster.

Draco kept the smirk on his face, but inwardly he was getting concerned. He knew the potion was sinking through his rivals robes and his stupid modesty was keeping him from getting them off quick enough. His concern turned to anger and his anger to action. "Expelliarmus clothing!"

Draco's smirk got bigger as Potter's clothes started to fly away from his body. Harry was grabbing at them furiously but Draco's magic was too strong. As Draco looked at the other boy though, the smirk disappeared as his eyes widened in shock.

Harry made a pained sound as he curled in on himself trying to hide. At Draco's involuntary step towards him, he scuttled backwards, ending up curled under Snape's desk.

Draco just stared for a long moment at his rival's hiding place, complete disbelief and shock the only expressions on his face. For a moment he wavered indecisively before striding to the door. Remembering his own state of dishabille, he stuck only his head through the doorway.

"Professor! I think you'd better come here!"

?/?/?/?/?/?/?

After warning the other students not to touch anything while he was gone, and stopping Granger from following, Snape stalked towards his office door. Although completely impassive looking on the outside, inside the Potions Professor would admit to being slightly concerned. Draco was unlikely to call him for something that was not serious and the poison _was_ fairly dangerous. To have Potter killed in his own class, after all he'd done to try and save the stupid brat...

Snape stepped into his office and closed the door behind him. A quick glance around showed a mostly unclothed blond haired student, a neat pile of clothes in one spot and other clothes scattered haphazardly around. However, of the clothes' original wearer there was no sign. Having expected to find Potter writhing on the ground in pain from the poison, this was a surprise to the older man.

He turned towards the visible student in the room with a raised eyebrow. Draco shrugged helplessly and pointed to the desk.

"He's hiding under the desk Professor," Draco's voice was snappish but his eyes showed his shock. The sight of his rival's body had appalled him down to the core, and he covered it as he usually did, with sniping and insults. Snape ignored the tone, used to his student's normal defense mechanisms.

"And what exactly precipitated Mr. Potter's flight?" Snape's voice was even but his face showed a hint of worry. The snappish quality of Draco's voice might have been normal, but the look in his eyes certainly was not. Something awful must have happened to impact the younger Slytherin that way.

"The little git was being as modest as a girl and wouldn't take his robes off, so I, being the helpful sort," he half grinned at his teacher and received a small smirk in return, "decided to do the work for him. A simple Expelling charm on his clothes and they're on the floor and he's hiding under the desk."

Under said desk, the aforementioned Harry Potter was steadily cursing himself. If only he hadn't reacted so instinctively, he wouldn't be in this mess. He was sure he could have bluffed his way out. After all, he'd done it before and with people much more perceptive than Malfoy. And now he'd called Snape!

Why did it have to be Malfoy? He really didn't need to give his enemy another thing to either insult or blackmail him with. And Snape! Harry was never actually sure what was going on with the Potions Professor. He treated him so awfully, but he'd saved him too, and he had to be really brave to be a spy, and he couldn't be nice to him without it getting back to Voldemort through the children of the Death Eaters like Malfoy and company. It didn't necessitate him being quite so much of a prat though, Harry was sure.

"Mr Potter, I would suggest that you come out before you lose even more points for your House," Snape ordered.

Harry didn't move.

A knock on the door interrupted Snape before he could do more. Opening the door, he found Weasley and Goyle waiting with the new robes. Without a word he took them and went back into his office, all without letting a worried Ron Weasley get a look inside. Handing the robes with the green and silver badge to Draco, he turned back to the desk.

"If you don't come out, I will burn these clothes and you can walk back to your tower as you are," Snape threatened. There wasn't a doubt in either of the two students' minds that he would do it.

Harry slowly crept out, keeping his eyes on the ground.

Snape went white and only years of self control kept all other reactions internal. Harry's body was thin to the point of emaciation. Bruises, scabs, welts and scars covered his body front and back. Harry's face was down, embarrassment and shame reddening his cheeks. He knew what his body looked like, he didn't need to see their expressions. Of course, considering who it was, they were probably enjoying seeing him like this.

Snape moved forward, his eyes never leaving the tortured body in front of him. If he had looked at the Slytherin youth standing next to him, he would have seen a boy trying desperately not to get sick. Both Draco and Snape had seen torture before, even participated, on both sides. Still, it was almost always done by curses and curses didn't leave _marks_ like that. Hidden deep in their psyches was the other reason it bothered them so. This was Harry Potter, and somewhere deep within, they, like most of the people at Hogwarts, had begun to believe that no one could truly hurt Potter. To see him like this...

Snape dropped the robes to the ground as his hands gently grasped Harry's arms, trying not to touch any of the bruises. A close glance confirmed his first thoughts; some of the marks were only days old. He shook his head in disbelief. How did this happen?

"How did Voldemort get you? Why didn't you tell anyone? How did you get away? What did He do to you?"

Harry might well have burst out laughing at his babbling professor if he wasn't so suddenly, completely, enraged. With an abrupt movement, he pulled out of the professor's hold. To the surprise of the other two, he got right up in Snape's face and growled.

"Voldemort! Voldemort! Why is it always freakin' Voldemort? Not every bad thing in this world is flaming Voldemort! But no! I'm Harry Potter! I'm the bloody 'Boy Who Lived'! Of course it's Voldemort who I have to worry about! 'We sent you to the Dursleys to protect you from Voldemort!' 'If Voldemort kills you it's the end of everything!' As long as I'm around to fight Voldemort, no one cares about anything else! The Dursleys keep me safe from Voldemort! Great! Who in the flaming Hells is supposed to keep me safe from the Dursleys? Huh?" He poked Snape's chest as he screamed in his face. Snape had been slowly backing away from the angry young wizard as he ranted and now his back was against the stone was as he stared in disbelief at the student in front of him. He could feel uncontrolled magic pulsing in the air around them.

"But... Dumbledore?" Snape questioned.

"Dumbledore doesn't care about me. He only cares about the school and Voldemort, you should know that," Harry almost hissed as he turned away and started pacing.

"Maybe he doesn't know," Snape suggested, trying to calm him down. If Potter didn't calm down soon, the magic he was pouring out would start acting without any controls. That was bad enough at any time, but as enraged as the young wizard was now, the loose magic would be extremely destructive to anything it touched.

Professor Snape recognized the look on Harry's face. It was the same one he'd use whenever a student said something extremely stupid. He found he didn't much like having that look directed towards himself.

"Are you saying that in _all_ the times I've ended up in the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey has never noticed that I'm covered in scars? Or if she did notice, she didn't tell the Headmaster? Or that he couldn't figure out there was something wrong when I'd beg, _beg_ not to be sent back to the Dursleys'? You think I didn't notice that when the letters began to come they were addressed to the boy in the cupboard under the stairs? How about the fact that my ex-babysitter is a witch that Dumbledore trusts, and yet she _never_ wondered where the bruises came from or why I sometimes had trouble moving and sitting down? All she cares about is her bloody cats!"

Harry paused to draw in a deep breath and Snape decided it was time to take some control back. _He_ was the teacher here after all.

"Mr. Potter, do not use that tone of voice with me!" he snarled. It seemed to do its job. Potter was calming down and backing slowly away. Snape almost sighed in relief as he felt the loose magic calming down and retreating back into the student's body. However it wasn't until Potter's eyes caught sight of the other student in the room that he seemed to realize exactly what he'd been doing. After all, it wasn't everyday you saw Draco Malfoy seemingly stunned speechless, with a look in his eye that was all too familiar to Harry.

"Sorry, Professor," Harry muttered, blushing furiously. Only then did he... any of them really... notice that he'd done the whole rant in nothing but his underwear. The blush deepened and he looked down, his eyes coming to rest on the clothes the Potion master had dropped. With the quickness that helped make him a good Seeker, he grabbed the clothes and slipped into them. Only after he was covered and hidden from view did he raise his eyes off the floor. "May I go now Professor?" he asked.

"I think not," Snape snapped back. "There are still questions that need answers."

Harry looked up, a flash of anger once more crossing his face. "Why?" he asked sharply. "You don't care any more than anyone else does! Probably less! If that's even possible. Or do you just want details? Is that it? Do you want to know exactly what happened and who did what so you can gloat and get your jollies over it? Well you're just going to have to get them somewhere else!" He turned and stomped towards the door.

"For that bit of attitude, Mr. Potter, you can see me in detention. Tonight, 8 o'clock."

Harry spun around and glared, seemingly ready to start another rant before looking upon the implacable visage of the Potions Master. Visibly gathering his control, he just nodded jerkily and headed out of the door with a thunderous expression on his face.

Snape turned to the other student in the room. Draco Malfoy's response, or indeed, non-response to the happenings of the morning would have surprised most of the people that thought they knew him. It did not surprise Severus Snape.

"What do you want me to do?" Draco asked, his normal arrogance completely out of sight.

"Try to stay out of his way as much as possible," Snape advised. "He's extremely volatile right now and we don't need him exploding in the middle of school."

"You mean like he just did?" Draco snarked.

Snape shook his head slowly, his face utterly serious and a little worried. "That wasn't a blow up, that was just a little flare up. He's like a Fellis Flambe potion that's just had the dragon blood added. What happens at that point?"

Draco answered automatically, used to potions questions coming in the middle of seemingly unrelated conversations. "The potion will burst into flames and burn wildly until forcibly calmed, then it will burn gently and can be poured into heat resistant containers."

"And after that?" Professor Snape prodded.

"If placed in a clear, closed, shatter resistant container, it will give constant light for a year. If put into a spillproof but open container it can be used as a constant temperature fire for use under a cauldron or to cook on if you don't have a fireplace or oven," Draco recited. "However, it's not commonly used since it's highly volatile and can explode if jarred or splashed around. These days it is better known as a fire bomb then as a beneficial potion."

"Nicely done, Draco," Snape murmured, a pleased smile showing for half a moment. "That's how Potter is right now, he flared up and has been calmed, but he's still burning and a sudden shock or jar could very well cause him to explode."

"Which is why I need to stay away from him," Draco agreed. "But what if someone else jars him?"

"Then, Mr. Malfoy, you need to pray that a teacher he trusts is nearby, for I don't believe anyone else would be able to talk him down or stop him."

Draco nodded thoughtfully as he headed towards the door. He turned back as he put his hand on the doorknob, looking back at the man behind him. "You stopped him. Doesn't that meant that Potter trusts you?" he asked. Then he walked out, leaving a dumbfounded professor behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm back! Earlier than I'd planned, but not a lot needed to be changed here, just a word or two and some proofreading. I'm sorry I didn't warn about mentions of child abuse before. There are more mentions of it here. I hope all of those who have put it on their fav lists and story alert, enjoy! (and if you got a story alert about an hour before it came out, that's because I accidently put the new chapter of Universal on this story... which is why you're getting this one now grin. Mistakes can be good for some of us grin) It's a nice long chapter too.

Harry Potter is not mine, honest! Neither *sigh* is anyone else in here. Enjoy! Review! All that good stuff!

Draco watched surreptitiously as Harry played with his food in the Great Hall that night. He wondered what was wrong, besides the obvious, because Harry must certainly be hungry if the painfully malnourished state of his body was any indication.

It wasn't so much the state of his body that had hit Draco, and, he knew, Snape so hard, as it was the simple fact that it was *_Harry Potter_* that the body belonged to. His own body, Draco well knew, might very well have looked like that if Lord Malfoy didn't believe magic was the only way to truly punish his youngest heir. He *_was_* a magic snob in all ways after all. The few wounds Draco had received that would have scarred had all been healed. And he'd never been starved. His father had managed to get him healed and make sure he had enough to eat. There couldn't be any disfigurements on his son after all.

Except, of course, for the Dark Mark. Draco's thoughts turned even darker, away from his rival and to his own past and uncertain future. His eyes and thoughts turned toward the only true hope he had. Severus Snape.

It had been only five months ago that he had gone to his favorite professor, hoping desperately for help he wasn't sure would come. During Spring Break, Lucius had made a point of mentioning Draco's induction ceremony into the Death Eaters would be occurring over the summer holidays. Draco didn't want it. He had no wish to become the lackey of a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur who tended to leave his followers with curses instead of power. Although he did agree that something had to be done about Muggles, he didn't see how killing them all would do the wizarding world any good at all.

His disillusionment with his family's way of life had started all the way back to the train going to Hogwarts for the first time. And it was all Potter's fault. He had been ordered to make friends with 'The Boy Who Lived' and didn't expect it to be at all difficult. He was Draco Malfoy, who wouldn't want to be friends with him? The answer to that, it seemed, was Harry Potter. He'd rather spend his time with a Weasley and a Mudblood than a rich Pure Blood such as himself. It didn't make any sense.

Draco had come to Hogwarts expecting certain things. He had expected to become a Slytherin, and that happened without a problem. That tired old Hat didn't even wait until it was on his head to call out his House. It was just as well, who wanted to wear a smelly old hat that had already been on who knew how many heads? There never had been any real doubt about that part of his destiny, had there?

Of course, he had also expected to be the most popular student at the school. That was blown all to hell almost immediately. Not only was Harry Potter there, but Slytherins were not the favorite of anyone not of their own House. It was not as he'd been told, not as he expected from things his father and his father's friends had said. Of course, after four years of watching Potter fall in and out of the students favor, being popular might not be the best thing in the world. Besides, he was the most popular student in his own House, and that was the important thing, wasn't it?

He'd expected to be the best student at Hogwarts. He'd been trained since he could first talk and hold a wand. Although many of the spells he'd been taught were not the sort that could be shown off around the school, he'd still had a very good basic education. Classes should not have been a problem. In truth, classes weren't a problem, *_Granger_* was the problem. It seemed that no matter what he did, the curly haired girl managed to edge out his score *e_very*... *single*... *time_*. It was highly annoying. Not to mention painful. Lord Malfoy had not been impressed by him being beaten by a Mudblood.

Draco had thought he'd be the best Quidditch player. But no, Potter had to get on his House team before Draco was even *_eligible_*. Not only that, but he'd turned out to be a natural at flying as well. And it was *_his_* fault that the other boy had gotten on the team. His taunting had brought Potter's abilities to Professor McGonagall's attention. He'd been pissed at himself for a while after that one.

Finally, he expected to be the most handsome person at Hogwarts. Well, two out of five wasn't too bad.

Inwardly, Draco shook his head at his thoughts, though no sign of them showed on his face. He was too well trained for that. Expectations aside, life at Hogwarts was far different than he'd thought it would be, but it was better than life at home. A good part of that was because of his Head of House. Severus Snape might pamper his students in public, but there were things he would not accept out of them in private. Regardless of how it looked to others, there was no bullying allowed within the dorms and no cliques were allowed to form. Older students tutored younger and those who needed help always received it. It was the first place, for many of them, where who they *_were_* mattered more than who their parents were or what they were expected to be when they got older. The students knew they could go to the Potions Professor for help with any problem, from schoolwork to relationships. He always had the time for them.

That pattern of trust was the reason why Draco went to him when he found out he was to receive the Dark Mark. Even though Snape wore one himself, Draco *_knew_* he would not let one of his students be forced into Voldemort's service against his wish. He'd been right. Together they'd worked out a plan. Severus had gone to Dumbledore and convinced him that starting at the Welcome Feast next year, well this year now, students should be checked for the Dark Mark. He'd then gone to a Death Eater's meeting and told them that Dumbledore had decided to do it, even though he'd tried to talk him out of it. That alone would probably have been enough, but he went one step further. He asked Lucius to allow Draco to become his apprentice.

Voldemort liked the idea of having a second Potions Master at his beck and call, so Lucius did not dare speak against it even if he wanted to. Not that Lucius wanted to. Potions Master was a more than acceptable occupation for the Malfoy heir. There were very few true Potion Masters in the world and for his son to be taken on as apprentice by one of the best, and before he even left school at that. Yes, Lucius Malfoy was happy with the idea, and so was his son. Draco got to spend the entire summer with his favorite professor learning more than he would have ever believed possible. It wasn't easy; anyone who had ever been in his class knew Severus Snape was a hard taskmaster and that didn't stop when the official school year ended. It was however, very rewarding. Draco had always loved Potions, enjoying the meticulous and orderly procedures, the difference one little ingredient could make, and of course, the many, many things that could be done with them.

Draco noticed that he was not the only one keeping watch over his arch rival. Professor Snape was also keeping a close eye on the boy. Surprisingly however, none of Potter's friends seemed to notice anything amiss with either his actions or his looks. How could Weasley not know how he looked? Didn't they have communal showers in the Gryffindor dorms? Shouldn't Granger be trying to get him to eat, forcing him to gain back the weight he'd lost over the summer? Why hadn't they made or stolen healing potions if he didn't want anyone else to know? They certainly hadn't worried about the rules other times they'd needed something. Why not now? Weren't those the things that friends were supposed to do?

A glance back at the Head Table showed the Potions professor getting up. Quickly, Draco pushed thoughts of the other boy out of his head and finished eating. Less than five minutes after Snape had left the room, Draco was following. Being Snape's apprentice meant long hours in front of a cauldron, and being at school all day wasn't going to change that. He was now expected to get up early to help get the classroom ready for the day as well as spending anywhere from two to six hours a night practicing the art of potionmaking.

Draco entered the classroom to find that the professor wasn't there. Unperturbed, he started readying one of the stations, pulling out his cauldron and making sure there was plenty of water and the fire would be ready to light at a single word. Almost immediately after he was done, the Potion Master swept in.

"I believe," Snape said, without any formalities, "that, since we have the perfect guinea pig coming for detention, it's time to test you on your healing potions."

"You want *me* to dose Potter?" Draco asked in surprise. "He's not going to like that."

"And I should care, why?" the professor smirked back. "I get to choose what the detentions I give are and we have need of a test subject for your healing potions. I'm sure Potter will consider it an honor to be yours."

They both chuckled with true amusement, one thought in their minds. /_When Hell freezes over._/

/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/?/

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry watched his watchers. What was going on? Why were Malfoy and Snape *staring* at him like that? He snorted a little at the thought, then looked up to see if any of his friends had noticed. They hadn't; too wrapped up in each other to wonder or worry about him. It said a lot about a person that the two people most worried about him seemed to be two of his four worst enemies. The only thing more surprising would be if *Voldemort* was the one worrying about him.

His mind drifted back to what had happened earlier that day. He could not *believe* he had lost his temper like that. He never lost his temper! He'd learned how to swallow his anger long ago. The only times he had lost control was when his magic had gotten away from him, and only one of those times was since he had learned about magic. Well, okay, so he'd occasionally get mad when his friends or parents were insulted. But that was different. It was okay to get angry for others but not for himself. Life was unfair when it came to him, he'd lived with that fact for years, and getting angry about it just led to more pain.

He had to make sure he had control of himself before he went into the detention Snape had given him. He was not going to give the greasy git any more ammunition against him than he already had.

He looked up as movement across the room caught his eye. Draco was getting up, obviously ready to leave the Great Hall. Draco was another surprise. His reaction that day had been a shock. Harry couldn't forget the look in his eyes from earlier, and he hated himself for causing it. He recognized it, how could he not? It was the same look he'd seen in the mirror when others were yelling, and knowing he'd put it there was yet another mark on his scarred soul. He didn't mind fighting Draco, but that look only came from an abused child who knew that yelling equaled anger and anger equaled pain.

With a sigh he rose to his feet and headed towards the dungeons. It was time to face the music.

He stopped for a moment to listen at the door of the potions classroom. Snape and Malfoy were obviously talking about him. And healing?

"There is," Snape was saying, "but you don't know it, and he is *your* patient. So how would you find out if he has kidney damage?"

"I haven't a clue," Draco admitted.

"If he has blood in his urine, there is some damage, if there is only a little then it is not likely to be something we need to worry about. If there is still a lot of blood, then he does, indeed have serious damage."

Draco's eyes were wide. "You want him to take a piss in front of me!" he practically yelled. "There's no way he would agree to that, me either for that matter!"

A chuckle came from behind the two potion makers. "He's right, I don't think much of that idea, and no, I don't have kidney damage."

Draco and Severus turned quickly, wands coming up into attack positions. Harry stood looking at them, one eyebrow raised at their reactions but no worry showing on his face. Actually, Draco thought, there was no expression at all on his face. Looking at him now, it was hard to believe that it was the same person they had seen covered in bruises and scars, cowering under a desk or shouting in the Potion Professor's face, just a few hours ago. Nothing in his bearing showed any hints of the pain he had to be feeling, and over-large clothes hid the emaciated state of his body.

Snape scowled to hide the fact that he had been just as surprised as his student. "And how would you know that, Mr. Potter?" he snarled.

Harry walked easily down the stairs to the front of the classroom. Severus remembered suddenly that one of his ankles had been swollen, but barely a sign of a limp or hesitation showed in his walk. How much experience did he have at acting normal , that with his body as damaged as it was, it was still almost impossible for an observer to tell?

"You're very good at hiding it," Snape remarked, walking slowly around the student now standing in the middle of the room.

"A compliment, Professor? I never thought I'd see the day. And I've got lots of experience." Harry didn't move, but Snape could feel his awareness on him at all times. "As to your earlier question? Same answer. I bled heavily for about a day, mildly for another three, and not at all in the last two days. As you said, kidneys are very resilient."

"I have questions," Snape remarked almost conversationally.

"And if I don't want to answer?" Harry asked just as casually.

"I was going to have you be the guinea pig for Mr. Malfoy's healing potions, but he could always use practice on his truth potions." Snape smirked at his almost helpless victim.

Harry glared right back. "Ask," he snapped out.

"And you'll answer truthfully?" Snape asked.

Harry conceded that. "I will. But 'It's none of your business' and 'I don't want to talk about it' are both truthful answers you know."

"Obfuscate too often, Potter and I'll pull out that truth potion," Snape warned.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Harry sighed in seeming disinterest.

Snape stared at him for a long moment, his mouth thinned in disapproval. Finally he pointed to a stool in the front of the classroom and turned toward his apprentice.

Harry sat where he had been told to and waited for the inquisition to begin. It didn't happen. In fact, both Snape and Malfoy practically ignored him, except when they needed a clip of his hair or a drop of his blood. Even the blood taking was done professionally, with no hint of the usual animosity that tended to occur between the two boys. Snape spent his time between overseeing Malfoy's potion making and marking the Fourth Years' summer homework. The silence stretched.

Harry fidgeted.

The only sounds that broke the silence were Malfoy's knife cutting ingredients, his spoon stirring the potion and Snape's quill writing surely scathing comments on the essays in front of him. But where were the scathing comments that should have been directed his way? Where were the glares and orders to answer questions he didn't want to answer? Harry sighed loudly. He knew they didn't care. He sighed again, even louder.

"Is there some reason you feel the need to interrupt the two of us who actually have some worthwhile work with your noisy exhalations, Mr. Potter?" Snape drawled without looking up from the parchments in front of him.

"Aren't you going to ask anything?" burst out of Harry.

"You made it clear you were not going to answer without more effort than I feel is required. I am not in the habit of wasting my time. Once the healing potions Mr. Malfoy is creating have finished their work, he should be ready to be tested on truth potions. If you haven't decided to answer on your own by then, you can be his guinea pig for it as well."

Harry's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. He jumped to his feet. "You wouldn't," he all but shouted.

"Modulate your voice, Mr. Potter," Snape's voice took on a deadly tone. "And I most certainly would."

"Why?" Harry's question was plaintive. "You've spent the last four years trying to get me expelled and sent back there. Why are you suddenly pretending you care?"

If it wasn't so impossible, Harry would swear his professor's eyes held a hint of regret. His words seemed to uphold the look in his eyes though. "If I had known, I would not have tried so hard. I believed you would be safer with the Muggles than getting into one of your hare brained, dangerous schemes here."

"You were wrong," Harry asserted.

Harry noted that while Snape tilted his head in assent, he never actually came out and said he was wrong. Unsurprising really, the end of the world hadn't come yet.

Harry sat back down with a sigh. He decided to go ahead and talk. This way he'd keep at least some of his dignity plus he wouldn't have to tell everything like he would under Veritaserum or other truth drugs. He rolled one sleeve of his robe up to reveal a bruise ringing it and just looked at it for a long moment. He abruptly began speaking.

"It was worse this summer than it's been for a long time. Maybe worse than ever. The Dursleys hate anything that makes a person different, but they especially hate magic. They think about wizards the same way Malfoy thinks about Muggles."

"That's ridiculous," Draco scoffed. "Wizards are obviously far superior to Muggles. They're probably just jealous."

Harry shook his head. "I've never understood why there's such a big distinction between the two worlds. Yeah, wizards can do things that Muggles can't, but Muggles can do a whole lot that wizards can't. Electric lights beat torch and candlelight any night of the year. Owl post is great, but if I need to get in touch with someone fast, I'd rather use a telephone. Did you know a computer could hold or have access to more information than Hogwart's entire library? And make in much easier to find what you're looking for? Not to mention"

Snape's voice interrupted the rant just getting started. "Milkweed pods!"

"Huh?" Harry turned a confused look onto the Potions professor only to see his attention caught by the cauldron Malfoy was almost frantically crushing milkweed pods to put in. Finally they were tossed in and the frantically bubbling pot calmed. Obviously, Draco had been paying more attention to Harry then the potion he was making and had almost missed a step.

"Please get back on track, Mr. Potter," Snape's glare turned what could have been a request into a soft spoken order. Harry thought about disobeying but instead sighed yet again and relaxed back onto his stool.

"I grew up not knowing anything about magic, but occasionally something strange would happen and I would be blamed. I'd also usually get beaten and locked into the cupboard that I lived in for weeks. I'd be let out for school and to do my chores, then locked back in. During those times, the only food I would get would be lunch at school and I'd try to save a roll or something for Sunday. Occasionally, if I got really hungry, I would take something from the kitchen, but if it got noticed I'd get beaten. Of course, most of the times I got beaten for taking food, it was actually Dudley who took it. But since their precious Duddeykins could never do anything wrong, it had to be me. It was always me." His voice trailed off and he was silent for a while.

Before Snape could prompt him, he continued. "My Hogwarts letter scared them. They were so sure that they'd beaten or starved the magic out of me. Vernon was so busy trying to keep me from finding out about magic and keeping the owls away that he pretty much left me alone. Then Hagrid came, and he really scared them." He looked up and grinned happily at the other two who looked at him in surprise. "He brought me my first ever birthday cake. And when Dudley started eating it, he gave him a pig's tail! It was so cool! Fear of Hagrid kept them off my back for the rest of that summer and really the next one as well. They'd moved me out of the cupboard into Dudley's junk room when the letters started coming and I got to stay there for the next three years, even if there were bars on the window and padlocks on the door. After Third Year, I got to threaten them with my godfather who was an escaped convict and accused murderer."

"And they believed that tripe?" Draco asked insultingly.

"Why shouldn't they? It's true," Harry answered back easily.

"Yeah right, perfect Potter has a murderer as his godfather?" Draco snarked.

Harry's eyes darkened and he glared at Malfoy. "I thought you'd realized by now that there is *nothing* perfect about me. And I never said he was a murderer, I said he was an *accused* murderer, though his name would have been cleared if a certain someone hadn't interfered." His glare moved to the Potions professor.

"I did what I thought was best, Potter," the professor glared back.

"I know that! But if you had just waited and *listened* to what we were trying to say, it wouldn't have happened, would it? But no, you knew best, right? What would a couple of kids who'd been involved all along know over you who hadn't had anything to do with catching the two of them in the first place, hmm?" Harry was standing by this time, his glare hard as nails.

"Why shouldn't I think he was the murderer?" Snape glared back. "You can't deny he tried to kill me!"

"If you were as big a jerk back when you were going to school as you are now, I don't blame him in the least! And he did not try to kill you! It was just a prank!"

"A prank? It was a prank to tell me a secret entrance into Hogsmeade that turned out to lead straight to where a werewolf was being kept... on the night of the full moon?" Snape had risen to his feet and the two stood across from each other with only the desk seeming to keep them away from each others throats.

"No, it was stupidity! I'm not denying that. He was stupid and reckless and yes, he could have gotten you killed, and yes, he should have probably been punished worse than he was but he wasn't *trying* to kill you!"

"Are you sure about that, Potter?" Snape's voice became low and gravely.

"What possible reason would he have had to kill you? I mean, even though I can't stand Malfoy there, I don't want him dead! Voldemort, yeah, but I doubt you were *that* bad back then."

"A dog is a good form for him, loyal to his master. I had something James wanted, so Sirius tried to kill me so he could have it." Snape's eyes looked into a distant past only he could see.

"What?" Harry asked softly, the vehemence and anger gone at the look on the face before him.

Snape's face closed up quickly. "That, Mr. Potter, is none of your business. Nor is it apropos to the conversation at hand. The Dursley's Mr. Potter?"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry muttered, heading back to his seat. Before he could open his mouth however, Draco spoke.

"The strengthening and healing potions are ready, Professor. The salve and bruise balm need to simmer for a while longer."

Snape walked over to the two cauldron's Draco was standing above. Luckily for the younger Slytherin, none of the potions he was making were truly time sensitive, so he'd been able to work on all four at the same time. Snape checked the two finished potions and nodded approvingly. He turned to Harry. "Take off your robe and shirt," he ordered.

"Why?" Harry growled.

Snape took a leaf out of Harry's book and sighed deeply, rolling his eyes towards the Heavens that had seen fit to give him such thick-headed students and spoke in the voice one would use on a mentally deficient preschooler. "Before you can be healed, it is necessary to know what is wrong. To know what is wrong, we use a sensing spell. This spell works much better when we can see the affected areas." Suddenly, Severus remembered a previous comment Potter had made and his mind made an unhappy connection. His eyes shot up to meet the sullen gaze looking back at him and his wand was suddenly in his hand. Harry shot to his feet at the sight; wariness crossing his features. Before he could move any farther, a cone of silence surrounded the two of them, so that even young Malfoy, only five feet or so away, couldn't hear what was said.

"What are you doing, Snape," Harry growled, anger covering the fear he was suddenly feeling.

"Is beating and starving you all they did?" Snape asked intently.

"And treating me like a house elf," Harry amended, not understanding where the professor was going with that question.

"You said she never noticed that you had trouble sitting down," Severus prompted. "Did they ever..." he let the question trail off, never looking away from the green eyes in front of him. He saw the moment Potter understood what he was insinuating and felt relief sweep through him when there was disgust, but no sign of shame looking back at him.

"Did they rape me?" Harry spoke out loud what the potions master had not. He shook his head. "No, they didn't. I think, this last summer, Dudley was thinking about it, but his mother made sure never to leave us alone, afraid of what I'd do to her precious baby if she wasn't there, I guess."

Harry was surprised at the relief he could see in the Potion Master's eyes. It was that, as much as anything else, that had him doing as the man had asked. As Severus took down the silencing spell, Harry stripped out of his robe and shirt. With another look at the two in the classroom with him, he took off his left shoe and sock, rolling up his pants' leg to show the swollen ankle. Once Harry was standing before them as stripped as he was going to get, Snape held his wand over the top of his student's head. Red light started pouring out of his wand and drifting down Harry's body. Every place there was damage, the light gathered; the more damage, the more light.

Draco spoke up from in back of him. "How come some of these are so much brighter than the others, even though they look just as deep?"

"Chances are they're getting infected," Severus spoke distractedly. "Come around here and tell me what you see."

Draco moved around the motionless boy and stared at the red light that seemed to make broken streaks across Harry's torso. "Why is it in lines like that? I would have thought it would be the whole bruise that was lit up that bad."

"The bruise is the pinker portion. The farther into the body the damage is, the darker red the light is. As you can see, the lines are darker, so they're not surface wounds. What are they?"

Draco traced the lines of almost maroon light, then shook his head in disbelief at his own stupidity. Harry's state of emaciation made it abundantly clear what the lines were. "His ribs. He's got three broken ribs."

"What would happen if we gave him a healing potion, specifically the one you've been working on, with his ribs like that?" Severus asked, all teacher.

Draco thought for a moment, wondering what his mentor meant, then his eyes went wide. "They'd heal just like that, wouldn't they; still out of place?"

"Very good," Snape said. Harry's eyes went wide as well, in disbelief. Severus Snape was *smiling*! Proudly smiling at his student. He hadn't thought the older man could do that without his face breaking. His eyes flew to the other student's face, trying to see what he thought of what had to be an almost unprecedented event. He recognized that expression too; the shy, almost wondering happiness at praise too rarely received. He thought about making a snarky remark, but couldn't bring himself to break the moment; true praise was too rare as it was.

"So how do we fix them?"

"Magic, of course." Severus put his wand into his belt and placed his hands gently on Harry's abdomen.

Harry hissed. He could feel something moving into him. Something that was not *him*. It felt weird, and wrong, and the only thing that kept him from jerking completely away was the fact that he knew what it was and that it wasn't meant to hurt him. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the feeling. It had to be Snape's magic, grasping his rib bones. He stayed as still as if he'd been petrified, not wanting the older wizard to lose hold of the bones he could feel being pulled into place. Then it was over and Harry found himself shuddering as if in the grip of a dreadful cold.

"That's awful," he shuddered.

"Why do you think most healing is done by potions instead of spells? Your body does not like magic other than it's own inside of it. You did a good job of not fighting me. If you *had* fought it off, I would not have been able to set those ribs." Of all the shocks Harry had received that day, this was probably the biggest. That proud smile Snape had shown to Draco earlier? It was now, unbelievable as it may seem, pointed at him

Severus stepped back to check the rest of Harry's body. There was a fairly bright patch still around the ribs, but the lines were straight, only the extra brightness allowing him to see where they were broken. A quick check of the ankle showed a bright red, not deep enough to be a broken bone. Severus walked around the still standing boy to check out the brighter patches Draco had spoken of on his back.

The Head of Slytherin worked hard to keep any expression off of his face as he once more took in the state of the young Gryffindor's back. As bad as his front was, it was obvious that *here* had borne the brunt of his Uncle's rage. Bruises, welts and scabs almost covered over the older yellowing bruises and lines of scars. Severus noticed that he could easily count every one of the vertebrae in the boy's back. He pushed all of that out of his mind, they were going to fix most of it today and what couldn't be immediately fixed, would be worked on. A quick check showed that he was right, several of the cuts had become infected.

Draco took the time to look Harry over as well, trying both to figure out what exactly was wrong and how the spell his teacher used worked. He noticed that Harry's entire body was tinged pink from the spell and wondered if that was normal or a reaction to his rival's underfed state. That reminded him of a question he had had earlier.

"Hey Potter," he said without his customary sneer at saying that name. Well, at least he tried.

"Yes, Malfoy?" Harry's voice did a better job of being expressionless.

"How come you weren't eating at dinner? You're obviously hungry."

Harry probably wouldn't have answered, but he could see that Draco was honestly curious. "Eating too much or foods that are too rich after being starved just makes you sick. Believe me, I know." He turned a little green thinking about it. "I eat several little meals over the course of the day until my stomach is up to dealing with a full meal. I usually take a couple rolls or some fruit from every meal and have it a couple of hours later. I can eat porridge or eggs, plain meats if they're not real greasy or fatty, some vegetables, breads, non acidic fruits, stuff like that. I just can't eat more than, um, about, maybe a third of a plateful."

"Although a shrunken stomach is not considered an injury, the healing potion should help you with that," Snape put in from where he was looking over Draco's potions. "Alright Potter, time to test these. If you get better, than obviously Draco will pass, if you get worse than we still need to work on his healing potions." He smirked at both of his students and was surprised to get two smirks in return.

"Yeah, like I really believe you'd let him give me something that would hurt me. At least not until I'm better."

"That's right, Potter. Once you're better, all bets are off. And I've learned a *lot* this summer." Evil laughter drifted through the room.

"Do your worst, Malfoy." Harry was surprised to find he was grinning with good humor at his rival and his rival was grinning right back.

"Oh, I plan to Potter," Draco chuckled even as he got the two potions ready. Then he got serious as he handed him the first potion. "This is a strengthening potion. Since most healing simply increases a person's own natural healing ability, we're giving you a strengthening potion so your body has enough reserves to actually heal. You'll be drinking several cups of this over the course of the night. Though getting some food into you later would help as well."

Harry took the first goblet Draco handed him and looked at it for a moment. He cautiously took a sip. The expression on his face made it obvious that he wanted to spit it back out. He coughed several times after he swallowed before looking back at the platinum haired boy. "That's gross! I thought you were going to wait until I was better before tormenting me?"

Draco shrugged unapologeticly. "I know how to make the potion, but adding flavoring without changing the basic potion isn't something we've dealt with yet. Just drink it and I'll get you some water to get the taste out."

Harry glared at the other boy but did as asked. As quickly as he could, he poured the potion down his throat, trying desperately not to taste it. True to his word, Draco had a glass of water waiting and quickly traded the empty goblet for it. Snape however, took the glass away before Harry could take so much as a sip. He glared at his apprentice.

"What did you think you were doing?"

Draco looked surprised. "Giving him something to get the taste out of his mouth," he explained, though he was sure his professor had already heard him say that to the other student.

Snape seemed to be waiting, hoping Malfoy would figure out what was wrong, but when Draco just looked at him uncomprehendingly, he unbent enough to explain. "Letting him drink this immediately after giving the potion will mix the two in his stomach, diluting the strengthening potion before it has a chance to do any good."

Draco blushed. "I'm sorry, I should have figured that out."

Snape nodded and turned back to the other student who still had his face screwed up into an expression of disgust and was looking longingly at the cup in the potion master's hand. Snape walked over to the ingredients cabinets and dropped something into the glass in his hand before walking back to where the students stood. He handed the glass to Harry, but his glare made the dark haired youth wait for instructions.

"You may wash your mouth out, but do *not* swallow. Understand?"

Harry nodded eagerly and took some of the water in his mouth. He was very surprised to find it was not just water, but had a pleasant mint taste that got rid of the aftertaste of the potion much better than plain water would have. He swished the water around his mouth several times before spitting it back out into the empty goblet that had held the strengthening potion.

"Thanks," he said, once his mouth was clear. "That was really bad." He shuddered.

"Don't be happy yet," Draco grinned almost maliciously. There was a little too much sympathy involved for it to be true malice. "You still have to drink the healing potion and another couple of cups of the strengthening one."

Harry glared at him before turning and glaring at his teacher. "You really do think up awful detentions, don't you?"

"A compliment from you Mr. Potter? Is there an apocalypse coming that I was not aware of?"

Harry actually found himself holding back a chuckle. He'd wondered that a few times himself today.

Healing potion. Mint water. Strengthening potion. Mint water. Watching the dark reds lighten and the brightest ones start to fade. Feeling the pain that he'd been living with for so long actually, finally start going away. He closed his eyes and would swear that he could *feel* the potion moving through him. Now his ribs, now his back, now his bottom. Down his legs and the twinges leaving his ankle. The only pains left; simple bruises and cuts, dull, normally beneath his notice under the tearing agony of broken bones or sprained muscles. He took a deep breath, the first true one he'd dared in a while, afraid of what the broken ribs might do, though he thought they were too low down to puncture a lung, still, being careful on his mind at all times... just in case.

He smiled at the two people who were, against all odds, helping him, and opened his mouth to comment. His comments were overwhelmed, however, by the sudden eruption of a stomach, looking for nutrition but finding itself totally empty. He found himself blushing as the other two smirked at him, but didn't remark on it. Professor Snape simply summoned a house elf and ordered a meal. For the first time since the Year End feast, Harry ate well. And while the foods were bland, the amount was far more than he'd managed since returning to Hogwarts.

Once Harry was finished eating, the interrogation began again. "Why was this year worse than the last few?"

Harry thought about it, but only for a short while. It was, after all, something he'd asked himself many times over the course of the summer. "I think there were a couple of things. The Weasley's came to get me and take me to the Quidditch Cup at the end of last summer. It didn't go over well, especially as the twins tried out one of their new jokes on Dudley. The Dursley's had *not* forgotten that, let me tell you. I'm pretty sure that there was more going on though. Something to do with Uncle Vernon's job. I can just go by what I overheard, it's not like they talked to me or anything, but I don't think Uncle Vernon's factory was doing very well. I heard something about not wasting good money on me, which is why I only got old bread or spoiled food. I even heard him yelling at Dudley for breaking something they'd spent good money on. And they *never* yelled at Dudley."

"On top of all that, they stopped believing that my godfather would show up *and* found out that I wasn't allowed to use magic during the holidays." He shrugged. "They didn't have anything to fear, so they didn't have any reason to hold back. Add angry, frustrated and occasionally drunk to that mix, and well..." he trailed off.

There was silence in the room for a while before he abruptly started speaking again. "I was lucky about some things though." He saw the other two looking at him with something like disbelief on their faces. "Well, I was. I heal fast, which was a good thing because there were several times during the summer when he was a lot harder on me than this last beating. After all, this last time he had to make sure that I wasn't *too* badly damaged and that it wouldn't show under my robes. He didn't want anyone to find out. Also, he tried to destroy my things, but couldn't. The really important things went home with Hermione, including Hedwig, and I had put enough charms on my trunk that it would have taken a lot more than what they had to get in it or destroy it. And they tried," he smirked at his audience. "Dudley tried to pick the lock and ended up blasted into the wall. That beating was worth it. And watching them try to burn it?" he chuckled just thinking about it. "You should have seen the looks on their faces."

"Are you telling me that you actually thought something through, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked in tones of disbelief.

"Um-hmm, planned ahead too."

"Interesting," Snape mused. "Perhaps something I've been trying to teach you for the past four years is finally sinking in. Now if you can only use that in class."

"But then you wouldn't have any reason to take points or give detentions. No, no, I couldn't do that to you." He looked at his teacher with innocent seeming eyes.

Draco snorted. "Yeah, Professor, he couldn't deprive you of one of your greatest pleasures, it just wouldn't be right."

Snape glared at the two boys that seemed to be ganging up against him. "I'd survive, I'm sure."

"We couldn't take that chance," Draco told him solemnly. "We wouldn't want to lose you. Who would teach potions?"

"When you put it that way," Harry smirked, "maybe I should try it."

With that comment, all three seemed to decide that enough serious talk had been done. The next hour passed easily, if a little strained at times. Finally, the last potions were done and applied, with extra given to Harry so he could apply them himself after he got back to the dorms. All three found themselves shocked that they had at times actually *enjoyed* conversation with a person or persons that had been their enemies for years.

"Potter," Snape said as Harry was heading out the door.

Harry turned with an eyebrow raised inquisitively and waited patiently. Only two hours before he would have been sweating and worrying over what his greasy professor wanted. Then again, over the past two hours, he had found out his professor was human after all. A human he might even be able to like, as long as it was in private. He had no doubt Snape would act like the git he was used to in public.

"I expect to see you here tomorrow, at eight," Snape ordered.

"How long am I going to be having detention?" Harry asked inquiringly.

"Until I decide to end it," Snape sneered back.

Harry turned to Draco. "He's determined to make us spend time together, isn't he?"

"It certainly seems that way," Draco answered.

"Did you know he was a masochist?" Harry asked seriously.

"Don't you mean sadist?" Draco asked, perplexed.

"No," Harry grinned. "After all, he's putting us together in his company. He's the one that's really going to be hurting here." Without waiting for an answer, he practically ran out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm back with chapter 3! This one's shorter than the last two, but I like this as an ending spot. For those of you that have reviewed, I want to thank you very much. Those of you that put this on story alert or favorites are greatly appreciated as well! Please remember this was conceived before HBP came out, so there are no Horcruxes in this story.

I don't own Harry Potter!

Chapter 3

Once outside, he slowed down. He walked through several corridors before he felt he was far enough away. Once sure he was alone, the mirth faded from his expression and he let the emotions he'd been holding back have free reign. He sank to the floor of the hallway and let the wall hold him up as he started to shake. He pulled his legs up to his chest, folding himself into a protective ball as he tried to keep from hyperventilating. Slowly he calmed and tried to figure out what exactly he was feeling.

A large part of it was relief. From the relief of not having to hold on to the mask he'd worn most of the night, to the relief of having someone who knew of his life and even seemed to care. Perhaps greatest however, was the relief of companionship.

Those who knew Harry Potter only as the-boy-who-lived might believe his greatest fear was Voldemort, death, perhaps even pain. However, Voldemort he hated for the things he had done, and feared what he might do and the damage that might be involved, but he did not truly fear the man himself. Death would have, at times, been a welcome friend, and pain had been a daily companion for many years.

Those who knew Harry Potter of Hogwarts might believe his greatest fear was of dementors, Voldemort or seeing others get hurt or die. They would be closer, for he did, indeed, fear some of those things. He did fear dementors and the memories they brought. He did fear that others would get hurt or dead and it wold be his fault. Just like it was his fault Cedric had died. Just like the deaths of all those Muggles over the summer, the ones he had visions of because Voldemort tortured and killed them himself and all the others he didn't know about but could imagine that the Death Eaters had done. And these were fears, big fears, but not his greatest and what he considered most selfish fear.

It was the fear created in an unloved child forced to live in a cupboard and not truly interact with the family it had been given to. A fear fostered at school where teachers turned a blind eye and other students were frightened away by a bullying cousin. A fear brought to full fruition after having almost faded under the caring of two companions only to have them turn from him even as the entire school did.

Isolation, not of the body, but of the soul. The isolation of having no friends, companionship, love. Of being turned away from everyone for something he didn't do. Of having no one truly believe him or truly care.

After this summer he really needed some time with the Weasleys, but Dumbledore had forbidden it. Too dangerous with Voldemort back. But what about the danger to his soul? He *needed* Molly's mothering and Fred and George's big brothering. He *needed* time with his best friends. He didn't get it. And on the train came another blow. Ron and Hermione were now a couple. And while he was truly happy for them, it left him alone on the outside again.

Now Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy were seemingly trying to break through the isolation. Already they knew more about him than either of his best friends. He had to wonder why. Not only why had they asked, but why had he answered. He knew that even if Ron or Hermione had asked, he wouldn't have told them, his best friends, nearly as much as he had Snape and Malfoy... who were his enemies!

What was it about those two that made him believe they'd understand? And they *had* understood. Then again, Draco had Lucius Malfoy as a father, and Snape probably hadn't had too great a home life either. Maybe they could understand, at least better than Ron and Hermione, both of whom grew up with great parents and a loving family.

Harry drew a deep breath and stood up. He'd come to all the conclusions he could while sitting on a cold floor in an empty corridor. Tomorrow would be the real test of whether they could be trusted. If his problems were being laughed about by the whole school or a teacher called him in for a 'talk' ... well at least then he'd *know* he was a fool.

The next day, Harry tried to covertly watch several people at once. However, he never saw what he expected. The Slytherins weren't looking his way and laughing, the teachers weren't shooting concerned, pitying looks in his direction.

Was it possible the two Slytherins hadn't told? And if so, why not? Were they planning on blackmailing him or something? There had to be a reason. It wasn't because they were his friends. Malfoy and Snape? It wasn't because they were just nice people who accepted that he didn't want it told, so why?

He looked back at the head table to find Snape glaring at him. What had he done now? He watched as Snape deliberately dropped his gaze, and followed the stare down to the plate in front of him. The plate that didn't contain anything but the pieces of a torn up roll and had never contained anything else. Snape was glaring because he hadn't eaten? That made even less sense!

Still, Snape's glare didn't move until Harry took a little food and started to eat. Even then he looked disapproving of the small amount, but at least his glare moved away once there was food in his mouth.

Detention that night just added to the green eyed boy's confusion. Snape's words were just as biting, Draco's just as insulting, still there was something different. Maybe it was that Draco was making a potion to make his scars fade. Maybe it was the way Snape wanted to know why he hadn't been eating and checked to make sure everything was healing okay.

After the fourth detention, things started to change even more. That was the day Harry finally got up the courage to ask some questions he had. Not about reasons or motivations, but about potions.

He found out something interesting that night, Snape and Malfoy loved potions! He knew they must have some interest in the subject but hadn't truly realized it was as much a passion as Hermione and her books or Hagrid with his creatures.

Most of his scars had disappeared by this time, leaving only a few. He found himself amused and even a little touched by the lengths the two went through to try and get rid of them. Snape was obviously taking it as a challenge.

Snape decided to give himself more time to work on the new potion by ordering Draco to tutor Harry on the basics of magic when it came to potions. Ten minutes later he gave up that idea altogether.

"Mr. Malfoy! I asked you to enlighten Mr. Potter on the theories of magic use! Not fill his head with useless, incorrect rhetoric!"

Draco dropped his mask enough that Harry was able to glimpse shock. "What do you mean, Professor?" Draco asked in confusion.

Severus sighed. He couldn't believe Lucius had let his son come to school so woefully unprepared. A fifth year and still believing that nonsense! He'd obviously have to reeducate the boys himself.

"What is magic?" He asked, beginning, obviously, with the beginning and using the tone he usually reserved for moronic first years.

"Something we have that Muggles don't?" Draco responded carefully.

"Incorrect," Severus bit out. His black gaze turned to Harry who actually looked as if he were seriously thinking about it. Privately, he was almost chortling at the gobsmacked look on the blond boy's face.

Harry started slowly, feeling his way through. "Magic is... it's like the air. You can't see it or feel it, but you can feel the effects, like the wind. Some places like Hogwarts there's a lot of it, while other places, there's not nearly so much. It's a ... element maybe?" he shrugged, knowing that wasn't the correct word, but not able to think of one better, "that a wizard can use to make things happen."

Draco had a superior smirk on his face, but Severus just raised one eyebrow in interest. "Not anywhere near what I would consider adequate, but not a complete waste of my time," Severus drawled.

He looked at the two soberly. "To put it in words you might be capable of understanding, magic is simply life. It exists within every living entity on the planet and traces of it exist where there is or has ever been life of any sort. Muggles are not such because they have no magic. Everyone and everything that is in any way alive has magic. Most however, have no way to actually use the magic they have. The difference between a wizard and a muggle is that ability."

"But... but..." Draco stammered.

"There are Muggles out there with every bit as much magic as Dumbledore. They simply do not possess the gift that would allow them to use it. It usually comes out in smaller ways if they have that much... charisma, intuition or other minor gifts usually considered talents... healing, green thumb, empathy, extraordinary luck and the like."

Draco had gone beyond stammering into utter speechlessness. That was not what he'd always been taught. Muggles didn't have magic, therefore any child of a Muggle, whether Muggleborn or half-blooded would have less magic. Everyone knew that! It's why being pure blooded was so important!

Potter was obviously thinking the same thing but was able to talk. "So how come wizards are so big on pure blood?"

"For the most part, pure bloods have larger channels and so can use more magic at one time. Mages are more likely to be born to pure blood families as well, although the Dark Lord is proof that it isn't necessarily so." Severus explained. He just made his students more confused.

"What's a mage?" Harry asked, even as Draco spoke up with "What are channels?"

Severus sighed in annoyance. Who had been teaching these boys? Potter, at least, had some excuse, but Draco was a Malfoy! He should have learned this long before he ever entered Hogwarts. Then again, that information might have made the blond question the things he'd been taught and that was something Lord Malfoy would not have accepted.

"Channels are what we call the conduits the magic uses to move from inside your body, to a place where it can be used. The larger the channel, the more magic can move at once, and therefore the more can be used. Longbottom, for instance, has very small channels, and therefore the magic has a difficult time moving to where it can be used. A mage is as much above a wizard as a wizard is above a Muggle. Mages have the ability to use magics from outside themselves." He turned and looked at Potter. "You, at least, should have been told this when Dumbledore explained how you beat You-Know-Who the first time."

Harry blinked. "I didn't. It was because my mother sacrificed herself for me. Which is one of the reasons it's so stupid to believe I can beat him. Especially now he has my blood, the protection's gone now."

Severus sneered almost viciously. "I don't know who fed you that load of hogwash, but it is not true. What? You don't believe the other families He has killed didn't love their children as much as your mother loved you? If that was all it took, no Dark Lord would have ever risen to power. I don't doubt your mother's death was a help, death releases the magic in a body. Why else would he kill people?"

"Besides the fact he's a soulless, unhuman monster?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Exactly," Severus agreed with a smirk. "He receives power with each death, as he would have with yours. However, he did not take into consideration the fact that you are also a mage. As far as those investigating were able to tell, you grabbed the magic of the curse and did what most children that age do about things they don't like, you threw it back. You also probably added the magic released by your parents at their deaths and V... He did not have time to react. It destroyed his body, but he had too much magic within him at the time for it to destroy his soul."

"But then, why didn't Voldemort know I was a mage?" Harry wondered.

"There are only two real ways to know whether someone is a mage. Either they do something completely impossible, such as live through a Killing Curse or they become an animagus and their form is magical. Although I don't know anyone who has seen it, it is generally believed that Dumbledore's form is a phoenix. Then again, there are those that say the Dark Lord's form is a basilisk. I do not know if I believe that, as I think he would have used that ability by now if he had it."

"I bet his animagus form is a flobberworm," Harry muttered.

"Or a grindeylow," Draco suggested.

Harry and Draco bantered suggestions back and forth, getting more ridiculous with each one. Snape managed to hide his enjoyment until one finally broke through his reserve. The idea of Voldemort as a flower fairy, with pastel wings and hair, dressed in a little dress made of leaves and flower petals, fluttering from one flower to another drinking nectar, was one of the funniest things he'd ever heard.

The students stared in shock as their dour Potion's professor started a rusty chuckling.

Harry and Draco looked at each other in shared, pleased surprise. That one moment was a defining one in the slowly building friendship between the two boys.


	4. Chapter 4

Great big thank yous to everyone who has indicated an interest in this fic, whether it's by reviews or just adding me to your favorites and story alerts. I really appreciate it! Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Mythic Alliance

Chapter 4

Life continued with nothing changing to outwards appearances. Snape still took points from Gryffindor as a whole and Harry in particular with a firm disregard for words such as fair. As well as without the slightest care for whose fault it actually happened to be. Draco still routinely insulted Harry and his friends. Ron still tried to hex the blonde for his remarks about himself and Hermione, but only occasionally did he stand up for Harry, too caught up in his new romance with the bushy haired girl to consider what that might be saying to his best male friend.

Harry was still in detention. However, for Harry, those detentions were turning out to be some of the best times of his day. He was actually *learning* potions! He would never be a master; he didn't have the patience for one thing. That had been a shock. Finding out that under certain circumstances, Snape could be the most patient person in the world. Even Draco had unexpected stores of patience.

One day Harry asked a question that changed everything. "What do you think my Animagus form would be?"

Draco looked up from the potion he was stirring. "What brought that up?" he asked distractedly. He suddenly stopped stirring waited ten seconds and stirred in the other direction twice. He checked the time as he pulled out the spoon and then turned his attention to his... friend?

Harry shrugged. "I was just thinking about what Professor Snape said." He ignored the sotto voce'd "That's new," from said professor. "All the animagi I know are normal animals. Professor McGonagall's a cat, my godfather's a dog, my dad was a stag, Wormtail," he almost snarled that name, "is a rat... and in more than just body, and Rita Skeeter's a beetle. All of them kind of match their personalities, you know? I'd just like to know what I would be."

"So find out," Draco suggested.

"It's illegal," Harry reminded him.

"When has that ever stopped you?" Severus remarked from above his own cauldron. "Any more than it stopped your father."

"You almost sound like you *want* me to do it," Harry said slowly.

Severus was silent for a moment. "I believe it could be... prudent... for you to have such an ability," Severus finally admitted.

Draco spoke up. "If he gets to learn it, I should as well," he mock pouted.

"Do you have an animagus form, professor?" Harry asked.

"It is not something I've ever had the inclination or time to learn," he allowed.

"Then you can learn with us," Harry said brightly. As Snape started to protest the waste of his time, Harry stared at him seriously. "It might be a... prudent... thing for you to know as well."

Severus slowly nodded. "Perhaps you are correct. However, since you are the one that wishes to know this, I expect you to find the necessary information so that we might learn it."

Harry agreed and immediately after he left, dashed up to the owlrey to send a letter to his godfather. It was three very impatient days later that Harry finally received a reply. He frowned in confusion. What did a book called 'The Magical Musical Mysteries of Miles Mandolin' have to do with anything?

"What's that?" Ron asked while stuffing a piece of bacon in his mouth.

"It's a book Snuffles suggested," Harry replied. "I'm just not sure why."

"Are you going to read it?" Hermione asked.

"I might as well," Harry answered. "He must have had a reason for it."

"Tell me if it's any good," the bushy haired girl commanded. "I haven't read that one yet."

"Sure," Harry agreed easily.

"Are you going to be in the Common Room tonight?" Ron asked.

Harry shook his head. "Nope, I've got detention."

Ron frowned. "You haven't done anything lately to get detention."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Really, Ron! I've had detention almost every day for the past three weeks!"

"What?" Ron yelped. "That's not right! Just because of that accident?"

"Actually, I think it had more to do with the yelling at him I did in his office," Harry admitted.

"You shouldn't have done that," Hermione scolded. "Still, three weeks does seem a little excessive. Perhaps you should talk to Dumbledore about it."

Harry shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not so bad."

Harry left them staring after him in confusion as he ran to the library to pick up the recommended book. During a break, he found some time to look through it. It looked like a very boring book. However, there was something that seemed *off* about it, yet in a very familiar way. His eyes flew open as he realized what it felt like. Making sure he was unobserved, he pulled his wand and tapped the book. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The printing changed. He quickly checked the cover. 'How to Become an Animagus in 10 Easy Steps.' With a grin, he opened to the first chapter. 'Learning to Meditate.'

Once the break was over, he headed back to class, 'The Magical Musical Mysteries of Miles Mandolin' carefully cradled in his arms and a thoughtful expression on his face.

That night Ron and Hermione snuck down to the dungeons with the aid of Harry's cloak. Ron was worried that Snape was doing something to Harry. Hermione had tried to talk her boyfriend out of it, sure Harry was fine. When she couldn't dissuade him, she followed along, hoping to keep the hot headed young man from doing anything stupid.

They slowly, carefully pushed open the potions classroom door. They snuck in, sure they'd managed to remain unobserved, and listened to the conversation going full force between Harry, Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy.

"What's he doing here?" Ron hissed.

Hermione elbowed him in the side to get him to shut up.

"But you need a wand to do magic!" Draco was saying.

"Isn't Potions wandless magic?" Harry asked, his eyes flicking to where he was sure his friends were hiding. None of them had missed the silent opening of the door, although their conversation hadn't so much as faltered.

"Technically, both yes and no," Snape replied. "Although there is no wand... as such, the ingredients might be considered used in lieu of a wand."

"See," Draco smirked.

Harry's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on the visage in front of him and started imagining it, and the body attached to it, several feet higher than the space they were currently occupying. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he commanded.

Draco squawked as he rose off the ground.

Once sure he had gotten the idea, Harry let the blond boy back down. "See? There is such a thing as wandless magic," Harry gloated.

He suddenly yelped as he abruptly found himself headed towards the ceiling. He looked down to see Professor Snape staring intently at him. "It does no good to learn how to do magic without a wand if you call out what you're doing," the professor remarked as he held him up with no hint of strain.

Harry frowned at him, then started using his magic to try to push himself down. He knew he could have distracted the older man, but he didn't want to do that. He wanted to test himself against the Death Eater, magic to magic.

The two were caught up in their struggle, ignoring everything else. Their faces grew tight with strain, sweat creeping down their foreheads as they strained against each other.

Finally, the tension got to be too much... for Ron. Without warning he burst from under the invisibility cloak, wand out. "Let him go!" he yelled.

Draco showed his excellent reflexes. His wand was out before the first word was out of Ron's mouth. However, he only pointed it at Ron for a second before turning it towards Harry.

Hermione pulled her wand but didn't step out from under the cloak. She was ready to defend her friend, but was utterly mystified when the blond boy just stopped Harry's fall.

"Mr. Weasley! What is the meaning of pulling a wand on your teacher? Fifty points from Gryffindor!" Snape roared.

"You were trying to hurt Harry!" Ron yelled back.

"Ron!" Harry rushed over. "What do you think you were doing?"

Ron's wand dropped as he gaped at his best friend. "He was trying to hurt you," he tried to explain.

"With 'Wingardium Leviosa'? I assure you, Mr. Weasley, if I were as tempted to hex Potter as I currently am to hex you, I would not be using 'Wingardium Leviosa'. And Ms. Granger, it would behoove you to put the wand away and show yourself now."

Hermione never could ignore an order from a teacher, especially as he was staring right at her, invisibility cloak or no.

"Since you two seemed so interested in Mr. Potter's detention, you may serve your own. Mr. Filch will be happy to assist you. Ms. Granger, you may join him tomorrow at eight and Mr. Weasley, he will be expecting you every night for the next week."

"Come on, Professor, he just thought he was protecting me." Harry spoke up even knowing it probably wasn't a good idea.

"Talking back to me Potter? That's another week on your own detention."

"With Filch, right?" Ron put in, still hoping to get Harry away from the evil professor. Especially since it was obvious the greasy git was brainwashing his friend.

"Unlike yourself, Mr. Potter is not that lucky," Snape responded. He glared at the two of them. "Now, out! Every minute you stay is another five points I take from your House," he warned.

Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and started to pull him out of the room. The last sight the red haired boy glimpsed was the infuriating smirk on Malfoy's face and Harry turning away.

"I don't get it, 'Mione! It was like he was actually enjoying himself! With Malfoy and Snape! And he actually took their side against us. That's just wrong!"

"I'm sure there's a good reason for it," Hermione tried to assure him. "Maybe Dumbledore ordered Snape to teach Harry and they just say it's detention in order to keep anyone from finding out."

"But Malfoy can know," Ron scoffed. "You don't think..."

"Don't even *think* of finishing that sentence Ronald Weasley!" Hermione said sharply. "We agreed we were going to support him no matter what. Remember?"

Ron sighed. "I just didn't expect that to include him being nice to Snape and Malfoy."

Hermione glared at her boyfriend. "No matter what *means* no matter what! We turned away from him once, it's not going to happen again." She slowed down and looked at the floor. "Even if it already has."

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked in confusion.

"Think about it! He's had detention for three weeks and today was the first we knew about it. What does that say about the kinds of friends we are being? We promised we wouldn't make him deal with things on his own, and yet we've been too caught up in each other to pay attention to him."

"That's no reason for him to be friendly with Malfoy," Ron complained, though the bushy haired girl knew through his blush that he understood her. "I mean, if he's not a Death Eater, he probably will be soon."

Hermione shook her head thoughtfully. "I don't think so," she murmured. "Think about it. Which do you think is more likely to happen, Malfoy convincing Harry to become a Death Eater, or Harry convincing Malfoy not to?"

Ron opened and closed his mouth. He couldn't imagine either of those outcomes.

"They knew we were there, Ron," Hermione said softly. "Think about it. None of them were surprised when you jumped out, and they knew exactly where I was standing. They wanted us to see that. We just need to figure out why."


	5. Chapter 5

I believe it was about this time that my story became infinitely better as Xikum began to beta. I seriously appreciate all of the time and effort she put into working with these stories. I wish I could see how many hits this story receives, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be working on the traffic page. Still it's very nice to see how many people have favorited or alerted, and even more wonderful for those that have actually taken the time to write and tell me what they think. You could join them you know ^_^.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

"Do you really think they got the idea?" Draco asked once they were alone again.

"Yes," Harry replied. "Hermione will have, at any rate."

"Too much to hope Weasley would use what little brain he has," Snape muttered.

Harry glared at him. "You've never played chess against him, have you? The boy's bloody brilliant at strategies, it's just that in real life, his heart overrides his brain."

"You mean his temper overrides his brain," Draco muttered.

"That too," Harry admitted. "Of course, I thought we were going to give them the idea that I was getting tutoring in Potions, not Defense."

"This was more believable," Draco suggested. "After all, no one would really believe you'd willingly take extra Potions lessons."

Harry laughed. "True," he conceded. "At least Defense makes sense. However, the Potions one would have explained 'you' being involved."

"You should have just told them it was none of their business," Draco said loftily.

"That might work with you, oh Lord of Slytherin, but Ron and 'Mione are my friends, not my minions."

"See," Draco said haughtily. "There's your problem."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Why I didn't just have them catch me scrubbing cauldrons, I don't know."

"Because if they thought you were here scrubbing cauldrons every day, they would have complained to the Headmaster," Severus reminded hm dryly. "And he would have said it had been long enough."

"At which point, Draco would once again throw something into my cauldron, causing it to explode and giving you an excuse to give me detention again," Harry responded just as dryly.

"Would I do that?" Draco's look of innocence was only slightly overdone.

"It wouldn't be the first time."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "I would hope that you researched what you were throwing and how it would impact the potion you were throwing it into at the point at which you added it."

Draco gulped and paled slightly.

"Yeah, right," Harry scoffed. "He just grabbed whatever he could get his hands on, and tossed it in when your back was turned."

The Potions Professor drew himself up to his very impressive height and glared mightily. "You added ingredients to someone else's potion without knowing what the reaction would be?" His voice was a cold sibilant hiss and all the more deadly for it.

Harry smiled, delighted to see the blonde finally get in trouble for all the problems he'd given them over the years.

"I want five feet of parchment on what exactly you've done and what *_exactly_* the reaction has been. Since I do not believe your mind is sufficiently capable of remembering all the way to First Year, you may go with the times in the last year and any truly spectacular ones before then."

"Five feet!" Draco squawked.

"Seven then," was Snape's simple response. He turned to Harry, who didn't have the time to wipe the enjoyment off his face. "I expect three feet on the dangers of allowing someone else to add things to your cauldron while brewing. Include historical and recent examples."

"Yes sir," Harry growled out. He knew if he complained the man would just make it longer out of spite, but it just wasn't fair! It's not like he could have done anything to stop him!

He might not have said anything, but that didn't keep the professor from knowing what he was thinking. "Life isn't fair, Mr. Potter, you should know that by now. There are spells available to stop any unwanted things from falling into your cauldron. If you were being ambushed, you should have researched those spells and used them."

"Hermione didn't say anything about spells like that," Harry frowned.

"And there, Mr. Potter, is the main problem I have with Ms. Granger," Snape growled. "You have a brain, but as long as you continue to allow her to have all your ideas and do all your work, you will continue to refrain from using it!"

"She doesn't do my work for me!" Harry disagreed vehemently.

"Doesn't she? I finally had time to look over your summer homework."

"That's different. You know I have no way of doing my homework during the holidays. I don't even have access to my books. That makes it kind of hard to do my work. So yeah, I use her notes and write on the train. I don't have much other choice. But during the year, I do my own work."

"Badly," Snape couldn't resist commenting.

"Will Potions help me defeat Voldemort?" Harry bit out.

"Don't say his name," Snape ordered.

"Voldemort, Voldemort, Voldemort!" Harry retorted childishly. "He can't tell when someone says his name you know," Snape was still glaring. "Fine, I'll call him Tommy, will that make you happy?"

"Tommy?" Draco asked, confused.

"His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was Slytherin Head Boy in 1945. He's also a half blood who was raised in a Muggle orphanage because his Muggle father couldn't deal with the fact that he married a witch."

"You're making that up!"

"Oh please, if I was making it up, I would have said his name was Archibald Rufus Dogbottom or something like that."

"My father bows down to a half blood?" Draco asked in disbelief.

Harry stilled, watchful. In all of the weeks they'd been working together, it had never come out like this. Certainly they'd talked about Voldemort, even joked about him. Harry didn't think Draco had any intention of joining the Dark Lord, but still it had never been said straight out, nor had Draco ever admitted he knew his father was a Death Eater. The one thing Harry did know was that Draco adored his father.

Draco, meanwhile, had realized what he had admitted to, and worriedly looked in the other boy's direction. His breath drew his breath in, in a gasp as he caught sight of the dark, watchful eyes. Never had he seen the other boy so intense, not even when he was going after a snitch. For what was probably the first time, he realized that the Boy Who Lived might be just as dangerous as some people thought.

"Yes," Harry said softly. "Your father does bow down to a half-blood."

"But... why?" This time his question was plaintive and addressed to his father's best friend.

Severus looked at the two boys in front of him. He was just as surprised at the look on the black haired boy's face as Draco was. He knew that they deserved an answer, but this was not the place.

He was glad he hadn't been doing anything important as he cleaned up and then led the way to his sitting room.

Harry and Draco sat on separate ends of the couch while Severus settled in the chair across from them. The Potions Master placed silencing charms around the room before he began to speak.

"Harry, what do you know about the Death Eaters? Not as a group, but the individual people?"

"Well, there's Draco's father and Crabbe's and Goyle's and Nott's, then there's Pettigrew and Karakoff and Quirrel, you" Harry petered off, not sure what the older man was trying to get at.

"How old would you say we all were?" Snape prompted.

"Well... most of them have kids my age, so... middle thirties?"

"So when V... he rose to power twenty years ago, we would all have been...?"

"Our age!" Draco exclaimed.

"Teenagers!" Harry said at the same time.

"That's correct," Severus agreed. "And do either of you know any students of your own age who would understand what exactly they were getting into by taking the Dark Mark? Especially considering he was just rising to power at the time?"

Harry thought of all the students in his own year. Hermione... perhaps, but she could be seriously naive if it wasn't written in a book and she tended to take what was written in a book as gospel. Ron... not even. None of the others would really have any idea either. He shook his head and saw Draco doing the same thing.

"He was very good at saying what you wanted to hear," Snape said in a contemplative tone. "To some he promised power, the ability to get out from under their family's shadows." Harry noticed the glance that was thrown in Draco's direction at that and filed it away to think about later. "To some he promised knowledge that was impossible to get in any other way." That would be Hermione's downfall, that was for sure. He wondered if it had been Snape's. "To some he promised respect, to others that they wouldn't have to hide from Muggles. The killing, the torture, none of that came up in the recruitment spiel. None of it came up until *after* you took the Dark Mark, and by then he had access to your soul, and there wasn't a single thing you could do about it."

Harry frowned. "For some reason I got the idea that it was a family thing. That families wanted their kids to swear to the Dark Lord? Especially ones that had served Grindelwald."

Snape shook his head. "Grindelwald had an entirely different agenda than He does. He was trying to repeal a number of the Dark laws, the ones that called certain creatures and spells Dark, especially when they were nothing of the sort. Of course, what his actions actually did was give the Ministry a reason to increase the number of things they considered to be Dark. It was also after his reign that 'Dark' came to equate with 'evil'. Even the adoption spell was put on the Dark list, which led to problems with Him."

"Adoption spell?" Draco wondered.

"Why would that be considered Dark?" Harry said immediately after.

"Any spell or potion that uses human blood as a main component, or blood from a person not the caster is considered to be Dark. The adoption spell used the blood of the child and adopting parent to actually bring the child into the family. It was usually used for Muggleborn children who were orphaned or had families that would not do well learning about the magical world. With the adoption spell, the child's appearance and bloodlines were changed so that they became part of the new family. Even the magical family trees recognized them as part of the family, and adopted children were never considered to be less than the natural born children. Most children never had any idea if they were adopted or not. It was really only after that spell was made illegal that the big differential between purebloods and Mugglebloods started."

"That's stupid," Harry groaned.

"Indeed," Severus agreed. "Many of the Ministry's actions during the past hundred years fall into that category. Anyway, to answer your question, *he* expects the children of his Death Eaters to join him, but most parents did not approve of their children joining."

"Too bad that's changed," Draco muttered unhappily.

"I doubt it did," Snape said thoughtfully. "I believe you did exactly what your father expected you to do. And because of what you did, no student will be taking the Dark Mark while they still go to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, there's nothing yet we can do about those who just graduated, but there aren't too many of those yet."

"But... father said that I had to take the Dark Mark," Draco looked confused.

"If he truly wanted it to happen, he would have taken you to Him without telling you about it first. No, I think you did exactly what he wished."

"You don't think I disappointed him?" Draco sounded almost wistful.

"Not at all," Severus said surprisingly gentle.

Harry looked at them and wondered. Why did Draco care so much? He'd seen that look in his eyes when he'd yelled at him. He'd been abused too; Harry was sure of it. But he wanted so much to have his father approve of him. His look softened a bit. At least with the Dursleys he had given up on getting their approval a long time ago. But Draco obviously still loved his father. That had to hurt worse than anything that had been done to him.

"Here's something else for you both to think about," Severus said, breaking the mood. "If all of the Death Eaters were such willing followers, delighting in killing and torturing, then how come no one took over once the Dark Lord disappeared?"

Draco and Harry looked at each other in surprise. That really was a good question, wasn't it?

"Now, I believe it is time for you both to get back to your dorms, and I expect those reports to be ready by Saturday."

With that, both students got up and said good-bye. They both had plenty to think about, and the papers that were due took up very little of their brain. Draco kept considering Severus' words. That he'd done what his father wanted him to do. He hoped and prayed that the older man was right. After all, he was his father's best friend. Surely he would know. He hated the thought that he'd disappointed his father.

Harry was considering the Death Eaters as a whole. He suddenly growled under his breath.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked, shocked out of his own thoughts.

"If most of the Death Eaters really didn't want to fight with Voldemort anymore, and no one tried to take his place, then I seriously doubt anyone tried to take revenge for his death," Harry bit out. "So *why* did I have to live with the Dursleys all these years?"

"You know, that's a really good question," Draco replied.

"And knowing Dumbledore, I'll end up back there again next summer," Harry said angrily.

"Then we'll just have to figure out a way to kill him before than, won't we?" Draco murmured.

"We?" Harry blinked in disbelief.

"If my father really doesn't want to serve him, then it's my duty as his son to get him out of there, isn't it?" Draco shrugged, though his eyes showed his worry. It was a big step he was considering.

"What if Professor Snape is wrong?"

Draco's eyes showed his fear of that before he straightened up and his eyes blanked. "Professor Snape? Wrong? I don't think so."

"I hope you're right," Harry admitted. "I think your father could be a lot worse than Voldemort is, if he ever tried to take his place."

Draco smirked. "That's exactly right."


	6. Chapter 6

I actually combined two of the original chapters for this one. I'd planned on doing one and a half, but the second half didn't really fit with the next chapter. So lucky you guys get an extra long chapter, the original one was only 4 pages long.

Thanks as always to the wonderful betaing of Xikum. I suppose I should thank J. K. Rowling for making Harry Potter and friends, because they are most certainly not mine.

Don't forget to comment! It's nice when you do ^_^.

Mythic Alliance

The days fell into a routine. Draco joined his Potions teacher immediately after dinner to work on his own potions studies, while Harry didn't join them until an hour later. Two days a week, they would all work on Potions, two days they would work on Defense and wandless magic. The two students quickly found out that the meditation they were learning for their animagus training was the biggest help they had. Learning to use their minds, to empty them out and order them was essential for wandless magic, and was a great help for everything else.

Fridays quickly became their favorite time though, it was their talking day. In truth, it was more like a debate. Snape did not accept "because I think so," or "because it is," as an answer. He wanted reasons, and so Draco and Harry would often find themselves searching through the library for reasons that would convince each other to their way of thinking. They'd gotten into the habit of deciding on a topic the week before, giving them enough time to find the information needed to defend their point-of-view. It was a surprisingly fun and informative way to learn.

One of their first conversations had led to a difference in Potions class. A difference that Severus was very happy about. It had been a discussion on the Hogwarts' Houses.

"There was no more doubt of where I was going to end up then there was where you were," Draco smirked.

"Really?" Harry asked, with one raised eyebrow. "I didn't know you had to argue with the Hat to get it to put you in Slytherin. Because I definitely had to argue with it."

"Where did it wish to put you? Hufflepuff?" Snape asked with a sneer.

"Why, no, my dear professor. I almost ended up in *your* House," Harry's smirk was textbook as he took in the disbelieving expressions in front of him. "That's right," he answered their unspoken question, "the Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. 'You could be great, it's all in your head, and Slytherin could aid you on the way to greatness.' Something like that."

"So why didn't you?" Draco asked once he got his voice back.

"Because you were there," Harry admitted baldly. "You reminded me of Dudley and I didn't want anything to do with you or your House."

"Dudley?" Draco squawked. "Didn't you say he was an obese whale? What does that have to do with me? I, after all, am the perfect figure of a man!"

Harry chuckled. "You didn't look like him. You acted like him. You acted like a spoiled brat, and the second time we met you even had two bully boys following your every order. I just knew you were going to try to have them hold me down while you beat me up."

"Not until you turned me down," Draco answered snidely.

"It just goes to show that the Sorting Hat has gone insane from old age," Snape suggested.

"You just have to look around at our year to figure that out," Draco told him seriously.

Harry nodded his agreement. "Hermione should be in Ravenclaw," he said, not telling anyone what they didn't already know. "Not to say that I'm not glad she's in Gryffindor, but I never have understood why she is. If she wasn't one of my best friends, she wouldn't get into any trouble. Though admittedly, she's very passionate about minority rights, she's mostly passionate about knowledge. She doesn't relate very well to the other Gryffindor girls, and I honestly think she would have had more friends if she had been put in Ravenclaw."

"The one I don't get is Longbottom," Draco scoffed. "You can't tell me he's got any bravery in him."

Harry shook his head and looked seriously at the blonde boy. "Of all the people currently in Gryffindor, Neville is the one that I believe most deserves to be there. He's the bravest person I know."

"Where did you ever come up with such an idea, Mr. Potter?"

"He's afraid of his own shadow!"

Harry shook his head. "Actually, he's not. He's afraid of other people's shadows. Neville is afraid of people. I think it has something to do with what happened to his parents. I'm not really sure just why it is, but I know it's true. And while he's more afraid of adults than those of us his own age, he's still not comfortable around those of us not in the same dorm with him."

"So how can you say he's brave?"

"Where's the courage in doing something that's easy?" Harry asked seriously. "Neville is afraid practically every second of every day. Yet, you didn't know, either of you. I don't know that anyone besides me does. And I only know because I talked to him one time after he'd had a really bad day. Regardless of what he's feeling, he continues on trying, pushing himself to meet new people, forcing himself to stay in company when all he wants is to find someplace to be alone. He fights his fear every day. And that takes more courage than you or I will ever know." He turned to glare at Snape. "You don't help you know. It's bad enough that you're an adult, not to mention a male, which is harder for him to deal with, but you tend to sneak up behind him which really, really bothers him. He'd be a lot better at potions if he didn't have to worry about you."

"I will not change my teaching style for one student," Snape argued.

"So don't," Harry responded. "But if you want him to actually have a chance to learn, at least put him in a back corner. And for goodness sake, don't pair him with Crabbe!"

"You have no need to worry on that score. I suppose you believe that I should pair him with Ms. Granger?"

Harry shook his head immediately. "She's too intense for him. If you really have to pair him with someone..." he thought for a moment. "There's a Slytherin girl, I don't even know her name, but she usually sits by Bulstrode. Fairly pretty, brown hair..." he waited for an identification. It wasn't long in coming.

"Thyme," Draco answered at the same time as Severus responded "Scarborough."

"How is she in potions?" Harry asked.

"Fairly competent," Severus admitted, high praise from him.

The next Potions class Snape chose partners and places once more. He decided to follow Harry's suggestion and see if it helped. Surprisingly enough, it did. After getting through an entire class without a single explosion, as well as getting a potion that was not correct, but certainly closer than Longbottom had ever managed before, he made the pairing permanent. Since then, Neville hadn't blown up a single cauldron; a miracle by anyone's standards. Hermione even swore she saw the two of them studying together in the library.

Yes, over all, everything was going well. There was just one problem. The people that thought he was spending too much time with Severus Snape.

Perhaps it was a good thing that Harry still had the ability to get on Snape's nerves faster than almost anyone else. And that the professor still felt the need for someone to scrub the classroom with a toothbrush on occasion, especially when he had been getting on his nerves all day. Harry was no longer scared of the Potions professor, and that lead to some very interesting arguments between them. Severus might actually have believed it unfair to take House points during these times, but there was no way he was going to allow himself to be disrespected in his own classroom. And so, Harry was dutifully scrubbing down a desk with Draco making laughingly sarcastic commentaries, as Albus Dumbledore walked into the room.

"Ah, Professor Snape, Mister Malfoy, Mister Potter," Dumbledore said with twinkling eyes.

"Headmaster," was said with varying degrees of deference.

"May I speak to you in your office, Professor?" Dumbledore ordered politely.

"Of course, Headmaster," Severus stood up from behind his desk and ushered the older wizard towards his office. "Continue as you were," he told the students.

"Is there a problem Albus?" Severus asked once they were alone.

"Certain of Mr. Potter's friends have become worried that he's spending so much time in detention here. Surely, whatever he did has been more than paid for. It is also causing talk because he's the only one you've given detention to with yourself. All others you've been handing over to Argus."

"Mr. Potter is quite enough to deal with, especially on top of Draco's extra studies. I feel his detentions need my *personal* touch."

"Perhaps so, Severus, but enough is enough," Albus said sternly. "I admit, yelling at you is something that he should be punished for, but five weeks of detention is a bit too much."

"Fine," Snape sighed. "I will cancel his detention. Will that make you happy?"

"Thank you," Albus said brightly. "By the way, has he spoken to you about anything? He's been keeping to himself ever since he returned from summer vacation."

"In what universe would Potter speak to *me* if he has a problem?" Snape sneered.

Albus smiled sadly. "You should take the time to get to know him, you might be surprised."

"I believe I know as much about your Golden Boy as I care to," Snape said dismissively.

"Now, now Severus, this grudge you're holding against him is getting quite tiresome."

"It is, however, my grudge to hold, and as long as Mr. Potter feels the need to get himself into problems I have to rescue him from, and continue to act like his father did, I will continue to treat him as such. So unless you have a problem with my teaching style..."

"There's no need to take it so personally, I meant nothing against your teaching of course."

"Good." Severus swept out of the room. "Mr. Potter, you are free to go, and I don't expect to see you back here for at least a week."

"Yes sir," Harry replied, grabbing up his school bag and practically dashing out of the room.

"Do you truly believe he will be back in trouble in a week?"

"Knowing Mr. Potter, I have little doubt."

Draco waited until the Headmaster had left before he turned and grinned at his Head of House. "Harry said that he absolutely would not be in the Astronomy Tower after curfew tonight, in case any greasy old gits were prowling around."

"Unfortunately, if I was to give him another detention tonight, the Headmaster would overturn it immediately. We'll give it a week. In the meantime, you have read the latest chapter in the book, have you not?"

"'Finding Your Form'?" Draco asked. "Yes, I've just been waiting for the right time to do it."

"Go ahead and try this weekend. I will be doing the same, as will Mr. Potter. Use the extra time to research your animal if it works, or figure out what went wrong if it doesn't. We will endeavor to work some more on it next Thursday or Friday."

Harry headed back to his dorm, wondering who had talked to Dumbledore about him. He thought Ron and Hermione knew at least a little about what was going on and had decided to stay out of it. Then again, they could have gotten tired of waiting for him to actually talk to them about it.

"Harry!" a voice called from behind him. Harry seriously wished he could just ignore that voice, but he knew it wasn't going to happen.

"Hello, Headmaster," Harry said as he turned around to face the man.

"It's good to see you again, Harry. I'm sorry I haven't had time to have a chat yet this year."

"That's quite alright, Headmaster, I know you're a busy man," Harry smiled sincerely, or at least it looked that way.

"How is everything going?"

"As well as could be expected. I got into a fight with Snape the very first day of Potions, pretty much says how my year's going to go, doesn't it?" he answered with a self-deprecating smile.

"Now, Harry, Professor Snape is a very good teacher, and he deserves your respect," Dumbledore said chidingly.

Harry rolled his eyes. "He'd get more of it if he wasn't so bloody prejudiced," he muttered. He caught sight of the disapproving look in the Headmaster's eyes and ducked his head. "Sorry."

"Has your scar been bothering you?"

Harry shook his head. "No more than usual. I haven't had any visions. It just aches occasionally if he's feeling particularly angry."

"That's good. Don't hesitate to tell me immediately if it gets any worse or you do have a vision."

"Of course, Headmaster."

"Good, good," Dumbledore patted him on his shoulder and nodded towards the painting they had come to a stop in front of. "I believe this is your stop," he said with a smile.

"So it is."

Dumbledore started walking away when Harry called out. "Oh, Headmaster?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Have you heard anything from Snuffles lately? I haven't gotten a note from him for a while."

"He's safe. He's doing a job for me and will probably be out of touch for a while."

"But he's okay, right?"

"I promise, he's just fine."

"Thank you, Headmaster. I'll talk to you later," Harry waved before speaking the password and heading inside the Gryffindor common room.

"Harry!" several people called out upon seeing him. He smiled around at them all.

"Hey guys!"

"I thought Snape wasn't going to be letting you out of detention any time soon?" Hermione ventured.

"He wasn't planning on it, but someone told Dumbledore that I'd been there for so long, and he came down and said time was up," Harry explained.

"I'm glad someone stood up for you that way," Ginny put in with a shy smile.

"I wish people would mind their own business," Harry answered truthfully. "I can handle myself."

"But if your friends want to help, you should let them," Ginny said with a hint of a pout. Harry was suddenly fairly sure who had talked to Dumbledore.

"But only if I ask for help. And I don't need help to deal with Snape. This wasn't the first detention I ever got, I'm very sure it's not going to be the last. If I can't even deal with him, how am I supposed to be able to deal with Voldemort?"

He noticed the flinch most of the room gave at that name and rolled his eyes. "You guys really need to get over that," he muttered.

"Not all of us can be as blaise as you are about it," Ron said.

Harry and Hermione looked at him in confusion. "Do you mean blase'?" Hermione asked.

"Whatever," Ron said airily.

Ginny wandered away, obviously unhappy that her good deed was not appreciated.

Hermione looked seriously at her friend. "I think we deserve some answers, don't you?" she asked. "If Dumbledore didn't authorize the extra lessons with Snape, then why are you taking them, especially without the Headmaster knowing?"

"'Mione, have you been in the same DADA class as I am?" Harry asked.

"There's nothing wrong with Professor Biddle," Hermione answered reprovingly.

"Except he's teaching First Year curriculum," Harry disagreed. "I thought you'd be the one complaining, especially considering O.W.L.s are this year. Most of the stuff you need you can get out of books, but I need the practical stuff they're not going to teach. And Dumbledore's got this weird, 'don't put any more stress on Harry by extra classes' thing going on. Honestly, I just started out in detention, while Snape gave Malfoy extra Potions lessons, but as much as I dislike him, if he's going to teach me, I'm going to learn. It's been five years, and I'm ready to get this over with."

"You're not thinking of doing anything stupid, are you?" Hermione said worriedly.

"What's in it for him?" Ron wondered with paranoia in full force.

"He gets to hex me in the name of training, and I'm not going to complain to anyone about it?" Harry suggested. That had happened too, those shield spells had been a pain to learn, but they were certainly useful. "And no, I'm not planning anything. But you can be sure that *he* is. And this time, I'm going to be ready for him." His voice gentled and he had a faraway look in his eye. "No one else is going to die because I'm not ready."

"Cedric's death wasn't your fault," Hermione reminded him softly.

"No, it wasn't," Harry agreed. "But just because I didn't kill him doesn't mean I don't hold some of the blame for his death. I should have done *something*! Instead, I just stood there, shocked, until after Voldemort had ordered him killed. It will never happen again. I promise you that. I will never just stand by as someone dies again. If I have to learn with Salazar Slytherin himself, it will never happen again." He stood up and stomped off to his bed, leaving shocked friends behind him.

That night, when Harry showed up at the Astronomy Tower, he found a note, detailing the plan for the next week. He nodded, even though there was no one to see and headed back to bed.

The next day he suffered through History of Magic, paid attention to Transfiguration, and rolled his eyes in disbelief as the DADA teacher explained the basics of vampires to a bored class that had heard the same thing in First Year, Second Year and actually learned it in Third. He missed Remus Lupin as a teacher. At least they had a chance of learning things then. Even the fake Moody was a better teacher. Still, he wasn't as bad as Lockhart.

Harry focused his gaze upon a feather at the other side of the room, and used the wandless magic he was still learning to use to pick it up and move it around the edges of the room. He made sure to keep it close enough to the floor that no one noticed it's movements. He managed to keep it in the air for almost fifteen minutes, including while he was asked a question by the teacher. He was proud of that fact, since it was the best he'd done since he started practicing this way. It was the only thing that made the class worthwhile. The important thing wasn't keeping it up as long as possible, but doing it while still keeping at least a part of his attention on the teacher and being able to handle interruptions. He and Draco both used the feather, and the House Elves had been asked to leave it alone. They'd lately taken to leaving it in unusual places, and tagging it with their own magic, something they'd just learned to do. It allowed the other to find it, no matter where it was left. Looking around for a place to leave it, he finally decided to try another new spell and used the sticking charm to stick it to the ceiling. Of course, since Draco wouldn't be back in the classroom until the next Monday, it probably would not still be up there when he entered.

Once classes were over for the day, Harry joined his friends out by the lake. It was the first time in a while that he'd been able to just sit and talk with them and the conversation was light and far ranging. Hermione ragged on Ron for not spending more time studying, considering O.W.L.s were happening at the end of the year. Ron's declaration that they were still eight months away, did not go over well. Only the fact that whenever he wasn't in detention lately, Harry's head seemed to be stuck in a book, kept him from the same lecture.

Harry quietly excused himself when he noticed the three-way conversation turning into a two-way argument. He was fairly sure that it would turn into a snogging session before too much longer, and he didn't particularly want to stay and watch that. He was happy that the two of them were together, but there was only so much of their togetherness that he could take.

He thought about going back in to the library again, or rereading the chapter on the animagus transformation that he was planning on working on this weekend, but finally decided that it was too nice a day and he'd studied enough for now. Instead, he ran and got his broom, and for the next hour did nothing but fly. It was a pleasure he rarely had. To just be in the air, with no reason except the sheer exhilaration and ecstasy of flying. There was no training being done, no snitch to catch. There was just the sky and the wind and the feeling of being free.

As he landed, he thought about what it would like to be up there without the broom. To not have to worry about staying on or directing it where he wished it to go. He wondered if his animagus form might possibly have wings. He hoped so. Well, as long as it wasn't an insect like Skeeter's was. He didn't know that he'd enjoy that too much. He shrugged off the thought. Whatever his form was, he was sure he'd like it, after all, how likely was it he'd end up as a flobberworm or something. Then he considered that thought and made a disgusted face. Knowing his luck...

He shook that thought out of his head. He'd find out the next day even if it would still be several weeks before he could become the form, at least he'd know what it was. Assuming he was as good with meditation as he hoped. He turned to look back up into the sky. That's truly where he thought best, where his mind was most clear, but he couldn't very well go vision questing up there, now could he?

He turned his eyes toward the Quidditch pitch. He needed some place where he would be out of the way, and where no one would find him. He'd need to be alone for several hours at the very least. Not the bleachers, they were too open. But the towers between... They weren't meant for habitation, but it shouldn't take much to make one sturdy enough for his purposes. He checked the time. There was still half an hour until dinner. It would be enough time to check things out.

It took him another fifteen minutes to figure out that the only real way inside was to go up from underneath. Flying through the supports and crossbars was difficult, but a lot of fun. He'd have to see about setting up some obstacle courses sometime soon. The top of the tower was empty, and the canvas it was made of flapped in the wind. However, there were enough bars just below it, that once he'd transformed his cloak to a wooden floor it held up quite nicely.

With his spot found, he headed down to dinner.

The next morning he skipped breakfast to head up to his new thinking spot. A quick cloak transformation and one way transparency spell and he settled down, looking around to survey the land around him. Satisfied no one had seen him or would be able to see him, he crossed his legs and closed his eyes.

He started paying attention to his breathing. In for a count of seven, hold for a count of seven, out for a count of seven. Over and over again until he stopped needing the numbers. With every out breath he let go of a little more of his worries and concerns, until his mind was clear and calm, focused. Focused on only one thing, finding out what his animagus form was.

There was no way to gauge how much time he sat there, but the sun was coming from the other side of the tower as he opened his eyes again, his mind's eye still filled with a combination of fur and feather, beak and swishing tail. A smile burst across his face as he slowly uncurled his very stiff body and stood up. Throwing his hands in the air, he crowed out, "I'm going to have wings!"

He then dropped right back to the ground, because the blood wasn't circulating through his legs and they refused to support him.

In the most comfortable chair of a well appointed sitting room deep within the dungeons, Severus Snape opened his black eyes and looked blankly at the wall in front of him. "I'm going to have wings? I don't even like to fly!"

In a well-hidden and defensible corner of the library, one that even Hermione Granger didn't know existed, Draco Malfoy groaned as he forced himself to his feet. "I'm going to have wings," he murmured, his grin almost as big as Harry's. He quickly forced it off his face before anyone could see, and started to look for a book on animals. Now that he knew what he looked like, it was time to figure out what he was.

Severus Snape headed towards the library. Although he recognized the form, there were enough discrepancies to make him wonder if he was correct in his supposition.

Harry hurried to the library. The faster he found out everything he could about his animagus form, the faster he could start practicing transforming.

Surprisingly, none of the three ran into each other as they got their books.


	7. Chapter 7

Whoa! Big jump in the number of reviews! Not to mention 10 separate Communities! Not bad at all! For those of you looking forward to finding out what their animagus forms are... you're going to have to wait a little longer. I think it'll come up next chapter. One person did make a guess about what Harry's form is, and came close but not quite. I will say that none of the forms are animals that have shown up in the Harry Potter world, as such.

Thanks must go to Xikum for her wonderful betaing skills. Also to JK Rowling and the others who own the characters herein. I, by the way, don't. Enjoy! Review if you want to! I always appreciate it.

Mythic Alliance

Chapter 7

That night, as Snape patrolled the corridors absently, he was not at all surprised to find someone in the Astronomy Tower. It was slightly unusual that there was only one person, instead of a couple, but it wouldn't stop him from taking points and enjoying himself as he did.

As he stepped deliberately loudly into the room, he saw the student turn, his wand coming up as he entered. He recognized the movement even before he saw his face. "Mr. Potter. Is there a reason you have broken curfew? I do believe Dumbledore would not allow another detention for several days, so I'm going to be required to take points."

Harry put his wand back into its holster, but didn't speak. He just shrugged and turned back to continue looking out the window.

"Mr. Potter, are you ignoring me?" Any gentleness was gone from the professor's voice at the snub.

Harry turned back. "I'm sorry, Professor."

Severus was ready to tear strips off of the Gryffindor's hide with several well-chosen words when he actually looked at the boy. His face was pale, his hair lank and sweat-soaked, and his eyes deeply sunken and baggy.

"If you're having trouble sleeping, why haven't you gone to see Madam Pomfrey? That *is* what she is here for, is it not?"

Harry shrugged with disinterest again, and Snape admitted to himself that he was ever so slightly worried. It was not like the Golden Boy to be so... detached. He didn't think he was going to get an answer, but finally the boy deigned to speak. "She said she wouldn't give me any more sleeping potions until the beginning of next month."

"That does not sound like her," Snape mused. "How many has she already given you this month?"

Harry looked away and muttered something too low for the professor to hear.

"What was that?"

"Ten, okay? She gives me ten at the beginning of every month so I don't have to keep going back to her."

"Are you telling me that you have used ten sleeping potions in two weeks time?" Snape roared.

Harry flinched back, tucking himself deeper into the corner of the window and Severus took a deep breath, trying to get himself under control. "Nightmares or insomnia?" he finally asked, when he was sure his voice wouldn't be too harsh.

"Is there a difference?" Harry asked with a rough laugh. "The nightmares get so bad I'm afraid to sleep. I stay up as long as I can, only to fall right back into them again. It's a good thing I learned silencing charms years ago. I'd really never get any sleep if I was always worried about waking my dorm mates up."

Severus frowned. "I've seen no signs of it."

Harry shrugged again. The potion's teacher was getting very tired of those shrugs. "I'm good at hiding it. Just like I am with everything else."

"What are the nightmares about? *Them*?"

Harry snorted. "Sometimes, but not usually."

"So what is it?"

"What isn't it?" Harry asked, exasperated. "Cedric *died* in front of me! And why? Because I had to be a stupid Gryffindor and share the prize. 'Kill the spare'. That's what he said. Like it didn't matter. Like Cedric didn't matter! And you know the worst part?"

"What?" Severus prompted.

"In my nightmares, half the time it's not even him I see. I dream that it's Ron, or Hermione... someone I actually really know and care about. And that's even worse. Not only seeing them dead in front of me, but knowing that I'm glad it was Cedric, and not one of them. He doesn't deserve that. He deserves better than just me and a bunch of Death Eaters remembering his last moments. Why couldn't I just have been as selfish as you've always called me? Just that once?"

"Both the Dursley's and myself have a great deal to do with that," Snape admitted.

Harry looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"To be truly selfish, you've got to believe that you deserve good things," Snape told him. "Regardless of what I may have previously believed, it's obvious that you do not. However, I must admit that my constant put downs probably did not do a lot towards building your self confidence."

Harry shook his head, but the small smile on his face was a true one. "You were the only one who ever treated me normally. I needed that."

"Your definition of normal would not be the same as that of most other students in this school, most other people at all."

"True, but it was still better than being treated as the bloody Boy-who-Lived. Sure, sometimes I could really dislike the unfair way you acted, but I'd rather you were that way then fawning all over me like Lockhart."

Severus nodded his understanding, but knew it wouldn't help his own guilt. He should have noticed and done something. He was a teacher. No matter what he believed about the way Harry grew up, no matter how much the boy looked like his father, he should have been able to see past it to the true child underneath. This was his failure, and he would not be absolved of it. What really hurt was wondering if he'd have missed the signs if Potter had become one of his Slytherins, and his fear that he would have.

"So that's it? You dream of the Third Task every night?"

"Oh, Merlin, no!" Harry laughed again in a way that contained no happiness. "I dream of my parent's deaths and dementors, of the basilisk in Second Year, of Pettigrew in Third. I dream of the first person I ever killed." His voice trailed off.

"You haven't killed anyone," Snape said, shocked.

"What about Quirrel? He dissolved from the touch of my hands. And I knew something like that would happen if I touched him. I saw what happened to his hands... and I touched his face anyway."

"You didn't have a choice."

"There's always a choice," Harry said flatly. He touched his side gently. Snape watched intently, he knew that was a site of one of the scars they'd not been able to remove. A puckered scar that looked like a burn.

"How did you get that?" Severus probed. He hadn't managed to get answers any other time they asked, but he thought Harry might be in the right mood. He was right.

"My uncle smokes cigars sometimes," Harry answered, then shut his mouth.

Severus tried to decide whether a gentle pushing or a taunt would get him the answers he wanted, but in the end decided to stay quiet. He hid a smile at the realization that his instincts were correct as Harry started speaking again, at which point any thought of smiling completely left his mind.

"That summer, I had a lot of nightmares about Quirrel. I'd wake up screaming about him burning up. Unfortunately, I'd wake the Dursleys up too." He turned away and looked out the window, his voice dropping to a ragged whisper. "He said that if I was going to wake everyone up, screaming about burning, he'd give me something to scream about."

Severus decided that since his instincts had been spot on already, he would continue to follow them. Yes, it would completely ruin his reputation, but he'd done that with this boy several times over the past few weeks. With a resigned sigh, he settled down onto the deep window ledge. Waiting until he could tell Harry was looking at him again, he did as he would occasionally do to homesick Slytherin First Years, he reached over and picked him up, settling his frozen form onto his lap.

"What are you..." Harry sputtered.

"You are not that stupid, Potter, so there is no reason to finish that sentence," Snape replied.

"I'm too big to sit on your lap!" he squawked.

Severus raised one eyebrow. "I disagree. You are actually very small for your age."

"Fine then, I'm too *old* to sit on a lap! Especially yours!"

"I don't recall giving you a choice," Severus replied evenly. "So just settle down."

"This is very undignified," Harry wheedled. Severus was happy to note that the detached tone was gone from his voice and there was life in his eyes once more.

"I'm glad you realize that. I was under the impression that you didn't even know what that term meant."

"Draco explained it to me," Harry said cheekily, though shadows were still dancing at the back of his eyes. "Undignified is you falling into a mud puddle. Undignified is also you, sitting on a window ledge in the Astronomy Tower, with a Gryffindor *on* *your* *lap*!"

Severus gave a rusty chuckle. He should have expected something of the sort. He really should have. There was no way the boy would actually give in and cry. After all, his own reaction would have been much the same, with a bit more sarcasm and less humor. The best he could really hope for was a slight relaxation of the body he held, a relaxation that had not happened as of yet.

"Have you tried meditation?" Severus asked.

Harry nodded. "It works for some of the dreams," he admitted.

"Which ones does it not?"

Harry's hand went up to ghost across his scar. It was all the answer Severus needed.

"You have visions of him?" he asked intently.

"Not exactly," Harry muttered. He sighed. "My scar has always hurt when he was around. Now that he's got his own body, it hurts whenever he's feeling really angry. He's angry a lot, isn't he?"

Snape snorted softly. "That's one way of putting it. He has never been the most patient or forgiving person, and I can not see fifteen years as a spirit having changed that in any way."

"You've got that right," Harry said in an annoyed tone. "It's not that I see what he's doing, not that I remember anyway, I just feel it. Sometimes it seems like I can feel when he's casting a spell, like Cruciatus, but I'm not sure if I'm really feeling it, or just remembering what it was like to be under it."

Severus frowned at that, and pulled his wand. Harry went even tenser at the sight, but didn't move away. The potions professor waved his wand over the boy, running a quick, and more specific diagnostic spell. He frowned at the answer he received. "You're showing the faintest signs of having been under the curse. Not as if it happened a while ago, but as if the curse was very weak and not well directed."

"I can never get back to sleep when that happens. I'm always too jittery and my skin feels as if it's crawling. Meditation doesn't work at all on nights like these," Harry said softly.

Severus absently rubbed his hand over Harry's back. He cursed his unthinking reaction as Harry went from unbearably tense, to rock hard tenseness. But he didn't stop, acting as if he hadn't noticed the reaction. His reward came minutes later, as Harry ever so slightly relaxed. He was still nowhere near to comfortable or pliable, but he also wasn't acting as if the older man's every move was going to hurt. Severus started speaking, and his no nonsense words and tone of voice actually helped the boy to relax even further. "Although there is a potion that can heal damage from the Curse of Pain, I do not believe it is necessary in this case. A simple calming potion will do just as well with the low level of nerve damage you've sustained. I will give you enough for several days, just in case, and upon your next detention you will brew your own. It is a simple enough potion that even you should not be able to mess it up."

"Yes, Professor." They were silent for a couple of minutes. "Professor?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Can I get up now?" he asked plaintively.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Potter ain't mine sobsob. Xikum is a wonderful beta! cheercheer Enjoy!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

It had been a week since Harry's last detention, and only the night before Severus had found him out wandering the halls again. The Potions Professor had no compunctions about giving him another detention and so the three of them were once again gathered in the Potions classroom.

"Can I go first?" Draco asked excitedly.

"Go ahead," Snape said magnanimously.

"I," Draco said importantly, "am a drake."

Harry blinked. "You're a duck?"

If Draco had had something nearby that he could throw, he would have done so right then. "No," he bit out as he glared. "I'm a drake. You know, the base form from which ice drakes and fire drakes come?"

"Base form? I don't remember reading about that."

"That's because they're extinct now. Millennia ago there was only one kind of drake. From the records we have, we know they were able to withstand both high and low extremes of temperature. They shot out a type of acid which was very temperature sensitive, and could control the temperature of the acid as it was released from their bodies to either make it so hot it would not only burst into flames but cause anything it touched to burn, no matter what it was, or so cold it could freeze anything it touched." Draco became more animated as he immersed himself in his story. "With the coming of humans, drakes found themselves for the first time under true threat by another predator, though muggles had different reasons than wizards. Muggles were terrified of them, but the wizards discovered that the solution could be very useful in a number of potions. *Only if you ask me nicely*," he said in an aside to Severus, who had perked up at the idea of a new potion ingredient, "They moved away. Some drakes moved north or south to the poles, and eventually lost the ability to regulate their temperature any higher. They became ice drakes. Others moved into volcanoes, and they eventually became fire drakes."

"Should have known you'd go for something extinct, never can be normal, can you?" Harry smirked.

"Why be normal when you can be extraordinary?" Draco said proudly, but seriously.

"Why be extraordinary when you can be normal?" Harry asked just as seriously.

"So does that mean your animal is a normal one?"

"As if I'd ever be that lucky," Harry answered. "Still, I've got wings!"

"So do I."

"There seems to be a plethora of those," Snape muttered.

The two boys glanced at him immediately, but he just waved them off. "I believe Mr. Potter was about to tell us his form."

Harry smirked at him. "Guess," he ordered. "I've got wings and feathers and fur."

"A pegasus?" Draco suggested.

Harry shook his head. "I've also got paws and a beak."

Draco tried to imagine what that would look like, but Snape got it first. "I should have known."

"What is it?" Draco asked, surprised at his teacher's tone of voice.

"What else could the most Gryffindorish Gryffindor be, but a gryphon?"

Harry nodded, smiling brightly. "My coloring is a bit different; I'm black. Except, of course, for a white lightning bolt. Can't get rid of it even in another form, I guess."

"We haven't had gryphons in Hagrid's class yet, but isn't there something about a special power they have?"

"It's impossible to tell a lie in their presence." Snape told him.

Draco looked interested. "Is there any way we can sneak him into a Death Eater meeting?"

Harry laughed and even Snape's lips quirked in what might be called a smile. Then Harry's expression turned thoughtful.

"Don't even consider it," Severus snapped.

"It would be interesting, you've got to admit that," Harry said, still with that contemplative expression on his face.

"It's also not going to happen," Severus said reprovingly.

"But just think of all the truths that might come out," Draco baited.

"A gryphon does not force the truth, it only does not allow a lie. No matter what fantasies your so-called minds might be devising, there would not be any sudden bursts of truth inspired madness, only people who suddenly find they cannot speak."

Draco and Harry pouted in sync.

"Well, then, what's your form?" Harry asked.

"I," Severus remarked stiffly, "am a phoenix."

Draco burst out laughing. Harry would have done the same, but as much as he had come to trust and maybe even like the Potions Professor, he didn't quite feel comfortable enough to laugh at him, especially after the nights he had found him out roaming.

"You're red and gold?" Draco blurted between his guffaws. "I can't believe it!"

"Nor should you," Snape said quellingly. "I did not say I was a *normal* phoenix, now did I?"

"Are you an Augurey?" Harry asked. "I could see that."

"Nor am I that woeful parody," Snape frowned. "I, am a shadow phoenix."

There was complete silence. Finally Draco broke it. "What the heck is that?"

"A shadow phoenix is an extremely rare relation of the phoenix. Or so it is believed."

"What does that mean?"

"No shadow phoenix has ever been caught, and few have ever been seen. Therefore, many people do not believe they even exist."

"What's the difference between a shadow phoenix and a regular phoenix?"

"For one, the color is black, not bright red and gold. It is not known whether they burst into flames; Irish phoenixes do not, after all. They are thought to be able to travel through the shadows and hide completely within any shadow that is around."

"Thought to? I take it that means that no one knows for sure?"

"Correct. As I previously stated, few people even believe they continue to exist. In fact, the only reason anyone believes there might be such an animal is due to a potion incident. More than half a century ago, one Rufus Silverleaf created a darkness potion. He used what he believed to be shadow phoenix feathers in it. It was the strongest darkness potion that has ever existed, completely blacking out the city of London one night. Its use has never been repeated since."

"And I thought Draco's form was exotic," Harry replied with a grin. It actually felt good to have the most normal animagus form. He frowned as that caused a thought to start percolating through his head, and then his eyes widened. "You realize..." he started.

Draco interrupted. "You mean you're just now figuring out that it also means you're not the only mage in the room?" he said in a haughty voice. "You're quite slow on the uptake, aren't you?"

Harry glared at him before turning to their professor. "You really didn't know, sir?"

"I have told you the only two ways to know for sure whether someone is a mage. I had never felt it necessary to use a spell so powerful that it should have been impossible for me to perform. If I needed to use such strong magic, I could always find a potion that would do the same thing, in combination with my own magic."

"That didn't answer my question."

"No, Potter, I did not know. It never occurred to me to even wonder. Mages are extremely rare. Since there were already three in England, the idea that there might be another, or especially two more in the same place, is practically beyond comprehension."

"It's too bad mages can't combine their powers. With the three of us, Voldemort wouldn't stand a chance."

"Who says they can't?" Severus asked slowly. "Hogwarts itself was created by the four Founders, all of whom were mages, combining their magics."

Harry looked at the other two silently for a long moment, before deciding. "If four of them could do that, then certainly three of us can take down one overblown tyrant."

"Perhaps," was all Severus would agree to.

"Perhaps," Draco responded as well.

"We won't know until we try," Harry said fiercely.

"We will not try without being assured of success," Severus disagreed. "You will not risk your life, and both of ours, for nothing."

"I've been taking such risks for years," Harry scoffed.

"Risking your life without due preparation, is not a tradition that will be continued. I can promise you that," was the Potions Professor's response.

Harry looked at him, disbelief clear upon his face, before he looked away, shrugging it off.

Snape looked at him with a ferocious frown before reaching for his shoulder. The frown got deeper as he noticed Harry's body react with a barely visible flinch. He didn't let that deter him though. He grasped Harry firmly, but made sure it was not hard enough to hurt. "You are *not* expendable, and you will *not* risk your life unduly. Do not believe that simply because we can speak together that I will hesitate in the least to punish you for such actions. And you will not like what happens if I do."

Harry was drawing away from him, his shoulder almost shrinking beneath his hand. "And no," Severus said vehemently, "I do not mean that I would hurt you. I mean that I will come up with a punishment so intolerable that you will beg me to give you back to the Dursleys, but you would not be harmed. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered, still withdrawn.

Severus nodded his acceptance, and finally released him.

Draco was frowning at Severus as Harry found a reason to pack up and quickly leave. "Was that necessary?" Draco angrily reacted as soon as they were alone. It seemed more an accusation than a question.

"Yes, Draco, it was. He needs to understand that I will not hurt him, but I will also not allow him to hurt himself. He has very little sense of self-preservation, and the way he has been raised and treated since he came to Hogwarts has just made that self-sacrificing bent stronger. I will not put up with it."

Draco nodded his understanding, but he was obviously still not happy.

Severus wrote something upon a piece of paper. "This will allow you into the Restricted Section. Unfortunately, I doubt Madam Pince would believe it if I gave one to Harry. Therefore, it's up to you to search for any information on mages that is currently within the library. I will be searching other sources."

Draco took the pass and left without another word.


	9. Chapter 9

Decided to combine two chapters again. I'm sure you can figure out where they used to break apart, since I do love cliffhangers grin. Technically we're all the way up to the end of Chapter 12.

Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling, betaing belongs to Xikum, story belongs to me! Do tell me what you think!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Severus took one look at the Tell-Tale and started swearing. Even soldiers and sailors would have been in awe of his impressive vocabulary and intimidated by the itemized list of exactly what he planned to do to an idiotic Gryffindor who was determined to push his buttons.

The Tell-Tale was a version of a tracking spell that he had placed on Harry days before. It told him, when he checked, if the boy was out of bed and about where in the castle he was. Once he was close enough, it could be used to actually track him down.

It was two o'clock in the morning, and Harry Potter was not within the walls of Hogwarts.

Severus headed towards the front door at a good clip. He debated waking some of the other teachers, but decided to try for a better idea of where the boy was before he brought them into it. Upon walking through the doors, he checked the Tell-Tale again. Any concern he might have been harboring was blown away by fury. The stupid boy was on the quidditch pitch!

As he stalked towards the boy's location, his mind conjured up pictures of the past week. A child who had always been contentious had suddenly become much more so. He was arguing with practically everything the Potions Professor said or suggested. In the last week, he'd spent more time in actual detention, scrubbing cauldrons, organizing the storeroom and preparing the nastiest ingredients, than he had spent time learning or practicing.

The more Severus thought about it, the angrier he got. He didn't know what had gotten into Harry, but he was determined to get it out of him.

As he reached the quidditch pitch his keen eyes caught movement in the air. For several minutes he watched, tracing the loops and dives the young Gryffindor was executing. To others, Harry's ride would have been a thing of beauty. A pairing of man and broom, connected by a love of flying that few could truly claim. Those who had called Harry a 'natural' on the broom were exactly right, and his grace and agility were a sight to see in the light of the waning moon.

However, Snape just saw a foolishly arrogant boy doing dangerous stunts without any spotter. If he fell now, no one would know about it until the next morning. With the picture of Harry's broken body laying upon the ground embedded in his mind, Snape didn't need any spell to make his voice loud enough to be heard by the rider. "POTTER!"

He watched as Harry jerked, obviously startled. However, not even with that surprise did he lose control of his broom. Instead, Harry turned in a gentle sweep until he was facing the glaring professor and brought his broom to a halt on the ground less than a foot in front of the glowering man. Severus Snape had never moved as the broom came flying toward him.

"Hello, Professor, is something wrong?" Harry asked superciliously.

Snape scowled mightily, and angrily reached for the boy's arm. It was the resignation in Harry's eyes as he stood there that suddenly caused everything to make sense. Harry had been testing him. Pushing him. Trying to see just what it would take to push him over the edge to physical violence. With that understanding, Severus made sure his grasp was firm but not tight enough to hurt. The scowl on his face, however, did not diminish in the slightest.

"What do you think you're doing?" he growled. "Do you have any idea how many rules you've broken? Not to mention the chance that you could have broken your neck! What did I say about foolhardy reckless stunts that would risk your life? What did I say would happen if I caught you in one?"

"I wasn't going up against Voldemort," Harry said mulishly.

"I said you would get punished for taking unnecessary risks," Severus reminded him. "This was definitely one."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

If Severus hadn't been listening closely he might never have heard the trepidation underlying the confrontational words. "Let's take things in order, shall we?" he said darkly. "First, you are out of the castle after curfew. I believe that is fifty points from Gryffindor and a week's detention. Second, you are flying your broom without supervision. Therefore, I believe I am fully within my rights to confiscate it. Not that that will matter much to you for the next two weeks, since you're banned from quidditch for that amount of time."

"But we've got a match against Ravenclaw!" Harry complained loudly.

"You should have thought about that earlier." Severus wondered how long it would take before Harry realized that he said he was confiscating his broom. Oh, he'd give it back… eventually. Maybe not before the match with Slytherin, but eventually. "Third, you were taking a stupid risk for absolutely no good reason. Do you remember what I said would happen if you did that?"

Harry gulped worriedly and looked apprehensive.

"I see that you do," Severus murmured. "First, we'll add another week of detention."

Harry looked at him as if he thought he was stupid. Considering he'd spent all but a week of the school year in detention with him, that wasn't much of a punishment. Snape didn't allow him to think that for much longer. "Both of these will, of course, be with Filch."

"Filch?" Harry yelped. "But what about our lessons?"

"Extra lessons are a privilege, not a right. As such, it is a privilege you have lost for the next two weeks. Any time you are found out of your room after curfew will add another week to your detention. Also, I expect an essay from you in two weeks time, detailing every non-quidditch broom accident that has happened at this school for the past century, including the details of the accident, what injuries the victim had, why it happened, how it could have been avoided, and what rules were broken that allowed it to happen. I will be checking this essay, and if I don't believe you've included *every* accident in full detail, it will be every one since the school was founded. Do you understand?"

Harry's eyes were wide. "That'll take forever!"

"You have two weeks," Severus reminded him. He turned and started to lead the way back towards the school. "And, since I don't think that alone will express to you just exactly how unhappy I am with the way you acted," completely ignoring Harry's almost desperate "It does, it does," he continued, "You've also just volunteered to be the guinea pig for all potions created in class for the next two weeks, or however long your detention ends up being."

If Harry had thought that Snape hadn't lived up to his threat of creating a truly nightmarish punishment, he soon found out he was wrong. He was exhausted. Filch loved the idea of having Harry Potter under his thumb and managed to find some of the most dirty jobs for him to do. There had been at least one major and a couple minor accidents involving brooms every single year, and that wasn't counting the quidditch ones. He was very, very glad Snape didn't include the quidditch accidents. As it was, he sometimes doubted he'd be able to get the bloody essay done in time. Every spare moment was spent on either that or getting over the reactions to whatever potion they had been working on. He'd never had to go to the Infirmary after Potions class, but it had been a close call the day they worked on Cheering potions. He was afraid his ribs would crack or his lungs give out from laughing so hard, and he had been left with massive aches.

The Gryffindors weren't very happy with him. Not only had he lost them fifty points, but he'd also lost them the game against Ravenclaw by not being able to play. The team had at least wanted to borrow his broom for the reserve seeker, so she wouldn't be stuck on a school broom, but he'd had to inform them that Snape had confiscated it.

What he found he disliked most however, was the time he wasn't spending with Snape and Malfoy. When did he become friends with them, anyway? It wasn't that long ago he couldn't stand either one of them. Now... now he was sharing things with them that he'd never dream of sharing even with the two who were supposed to be his best friends. He was... maybe... might be learning to trust them. Not something he *ever* thought could happen, but that's the way it was.

When Snape came after him on the quidditch pitch, he'd known he was furious. The anger was practically radiating from him. Yet, never once did he so much as grip his arm too hard. He didn't even yell. Of course, Professor Snape had long before mastered the art of sounding much scarier and more deadly the quieter his voice. Most telling of all, however, was the way he'd acted the very next day, when he'd told him to stay after class. The Potions Professor had walked over to him, pulled up his sleeve, and examined his arm closely, even going so far as to cast an anti-glamour charm. Then he'd done the other one. He'd never said what he was doing, but Harry knew. He saw the relief, quickly hidden, in the older man's eyes as he made sure that he hadn't hurt Harry. It was the first time anyone had cared.

One good thing about being as exhausted as he was, he wasn't dreaming very much. The few times he had woken and not been able to get back to sleep, he'd worked on his essay and the next phase in becoming an Animagus. He hadn't even considered leaving the common room on those nights; a fortnight with Filch was more than long enough.

Ron and Hermione had managed to get the whole story out of him. Hermione had lectured him for over half an hour on the stupidity of being outside at that time of night, riding a broom of all things. Ron had simply wanted to know why he didn't bring him along. Of course, after seeing the punishment Harry'd received for it, he wasn't quite so keen on that particular bit of rule breaking.

Finally, his two weeks were up. Harry managed to finish the last year on his twelve-foot essay only five minutes before he needed to turn it in. He raced to get down to the dungeons on time, extremely happy to be heading there instead of Filch's office. He headed to the Potions classroom. He was very surprised to find that Draco wasn't there yet, since always before he'd been there at least an hour before Harry was. He handed over his essay and stood nervously as Snape looked it over. He was sure he hadn't missed any. Well, he was almost sure, nearly positive.

Snape had looked up from the essay to make a comment when Draco came rushing into the room. He was panting hard as he skidded to a stop, but his face was wildly excited. "I found it! I found a way we can destroy Voldemort!"

Harry and Professor Snape ran over to the young Slytherin, eagerly looking at his findings. Draco's smile faded as he noticed that neither of the other two were anywhere near as excited as he was.

"What?" he snapped. "It's a great spell! It'll totally destroy him, and since it hasn't been used in a couple of centuries, it's not even banned by the Ministry."

Harry shook his head. "It'll destroy his *body*," Harry said slowly. "But I somehow doubt that's enough to kill him. It didn't work last time."

Severus Snape's answer was much more succinct, although sympathetic. "It will not work," he told his student. "Destroying his body will not destroy his spirit. It would, in fact, make things worse. Since his current body was created by a combination of Pettigrew's flesh and Potter's blood, releasing him from his body would allow him to possess one of those he is bonded to through the body. I believe all of us know which of the two he would pick."

"He can possess me?" Harry shouted in shock.

"Only if he loses his own body," Severus comforted.

"That's it, we aren't doing this spell," Harry stated the obvious.

Draco pouted but he couldn't disagree. He didn't want to see the Dark Lord take over Harry's body either. He sighed. But it had been such a *great* spell.

"What we really need," Harry said thoughtfully, "is a way to connect his soul to his body. Then we could use that spell and it would destroy both."

Draco looked up at that while Severus looked contemplative.

"Maybe a healing spell?" Harry continued thinking out loud. "Surely they have a spell that will keep the soul in the body long enough for them to heal it."

Severus slowly shook his head. "I don't believe so. Spells dealing with the soul are tricky and very hard to work. There have also been intense debates about whether it's even ethical to use such spells."

"But if there's been debate about it, then there must be spells to be debated over, right?" Draco asked, perking back up. After all, if they could find one like that, they'd be able to use the spell he'd found.

"I am not a medi-wizard, so I can't say for sure," Severus admitted. "But I have never heard of one that actually works."

"But maybe that's only because whoever tried wasn't strong enough," Draco suggested.

"We will look," was all Snape would concede.

"It's the best idea we've come up with yet," Harry reminded him.

"And you, of course, know everything," Snape said scathingly. Harry let the comment slide off his back; he had finally learned to do so, now that he knew it was far more bark than bite. "Meanwhile, we have already wasted a great deal of my very precious time." Snape glared at Draco. "I assume it will not happen again?"

Draco nodded, chastened.

"In that case, I believe the ingredients for today's potion are still in the storeroom, even though they should have been removed well over an hour ago."

The boys took their teacher's hint and ran off to retrieve the materials. Draco waited until they were alone before beginning to speak. "What were you up to?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't act so innocent. I'd think you'd been willfully pushing Snape's buttons the way you'd been going on of late. And then to get caught out flying at night!"

Harry stared at him seriously as the blonde was looking through the vials. "I did." He finally admitted.

"You did what?" Draco asked absently as he tried to read the writing on one of the vials.

"I did do it on purpose."

Draco put the bottle down deliberately and turned to face his friend. "You did what?" he asked in a reasonable tone of voice.

"I did it on purpose," Harry replied again. "I knew about the tracking spell he has on me, and I knew that he checked it every night. So I just made sure I was out at the right time."

"Why?" Draco asked, completely surprised. "Do you have a death wish or something?"

"I needed to know," Harry said softly.

"Know what? How mad you could make him?" Draco asked facetiously.

"Exactly," Harry agreed. "I need to know how far I can push him before he'll react."

"Physically, you mean?" Draco suddenly understood.

Harry just shrugged.

"And what did you find out?" he asked quietly.

"That I haven't found that button yet," Harry answered. He then held up a vial. "Is this one of the ingredients we were looking for?"

Snape stepped away from the door as Draco answered. He didn't need to hear anything more. It was one thing to believe it was teenage testing behavior, but another thing altogether to know it was a purposeful test. And Harry's belief that he would become physically harmful under the right circumstances? That was obviously something he was going to have to work at. That his students would believe him mean and hurtful, ridiculously prejudiced and liable to take points at the drop of a hat was one thing, but to believe he would actually *harm* a child?

Obviously he hadn't gotten as far with Harry as he'd believed.

How many more tests would he have to survive before Harry actually trusted him? Did the boy even have the ability to trust an adult any longer? He was pondering those questions as the two walked back in. They began to set up with a minimum of conversation. Once the potion was going well, they began to talk again.

"Perhaps the two of you should look through the library while I try other sources," Severus suggested, upon being asked what he thought their next move should be.

Harry shook his head regretfully. "I'd prefer not. My House is already very close to turning on me again, and I'd prefer not to give them the extra ammunition of being obviously friendly with Draco. Even if we said that you ordered it, we'd have to fight practically every minute of every day. Not much would get done in that case."

"Oh, come now, surely they wouldn't be so quick to turn on their Golden Boy."

Harry laughed briefly. "Yeah, right, it's not like they haven't done it several times already."

Severus was watching him closely, trying to come to grips with what he had heard earlier, and now he had another question to add to his list. Did Harry trust anyone at all?

"What about the weasel and the mudblood?" Draco asked scathingly.

Harry leveled a glare in his direction. "I would watch what you call them," he said threateningly.

Draco looked singularly unimpressed, but Severus knew it was only long exposure to his own glares that allowed that. "Fine," he snapped. "What about Weasley and Granger?"

"Do you by any chance remember the beginning of last year?" Harry asked impatiently.

Draco grinned. "You mean when I made those buttons?"

"Yeah, then."

"What? You didn't like them? I thought they were brilliant."

"Well, you know what they say about small minds," Harry said mock-sympathetically.

"Funny," Draco answered back darkly. "Anyway, what about last year? Oh, you mean the time when it seemed like nobody was talking to you?"

"Exactly. Ron was convinced I had gotten into it on purpose, and 'Mione was so busy with her own thing that she didn't notice anything else. Things didn't turn around until they realized exactly how dangerous the tasks were going to be." Harry shook his head. "I really don't know what got into Ron. He knows how much I hate my fame. I've never understood why he thought I'd go searching out more."

"Fame that is given to you is entirely different from fame that you earn," Snape spoke up. "I don't think you would mind being famous as much if you felt you had earned it by something besides surviving."

"I disagree. I don't want it in any way, shape, or form," Harry said seriously.

"Hmm," was all Severus answered.

"So, how are we going to break up the research?" Harry asked, changing the subject easily.

"Well, since you can't get into the Restricted Section…" Draco started.

Harry interrupted him. "Whatever gave you that idea?" he asked, pulling out a pass. "Having a st... less than perfect Defense teacher is good for some things."

"Well, then we can do that, while Professor Snape finds his own books," Draco suggested. "But someone should probably speak to Madam Pomfrey."

"I'll do that, since I usually see her several times a month for one reason or another," Harry sighed.

"I've got someone I can talk to that might be able to help as well," Draco said slowly. He refused to say any more about it, but had a thoughtful expression on his face for the rest of the night.


	10. Chapter 10

I thought about putting two parts out today, but I haven't put in a cliffhanger in a while, and I enjoy them too much not to put one in every once in a while. ^_^ Enjoy!

Harry Potter belongs to someone else, Xikum, who did such a wonderful job betaing for me doesn't belong to me either /boo hoo/

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

The next week seemed to go quite well. Severus kept a close watch on Harry, noticing he was spending most of his time in the library. The boy wasn't even going out at night.

The only other one who realized there was something wrong was Hermione. She had gotten used to the idea that she was only rarely going to see her friend, but that didn't mean she had given up on watching over him. And being Hermione, one of the things she was watching, was something no one else seemed to have noticed. And she did not like what she saw.

It wasn't entirely true that no one else knew, she reflected. Several of the teachers had tried to talk to Harry about it, but she knew nothing had come of that. Even Dumbledore had taken the time to try to talk to Harry about it, but he'd refused to explain. She, herself, had tried talking to him about it, but he'd just brushed her off. She thought about talking to Ron, but knew his response would be much the same. Well, if no one else was going to do anything about it, then she *would*. Even if she had to brave the snake's pit to do it. Her friend was worth the extra risk. She wasn't Ron, scared of the slightest shadow in the dungeons. Oh, he would deny it if she ever said that, but she knew.

So, it was with her self-possession high, and her fast beating heart well hidden, that she walked into the Potions classroom in between classes.

"Ms. Granger," Snape greeted almost cordially. Well, at least there wasn't *too* much bite in his voice. "Was there something you wanted?"

Hermione took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes, sir," she said courageously. "I want you to stop your detentions with Harry."

"And why should I do that?" Snape asked, his attention upon her. She tried to convince herself that he was not a snake and she was no helpless little mouse, no matter what his gaze suggested.

"Because he's failing almost all of his classes," she told him strongly.

Snape slowly put down the book he'd been holding and the intensity of his stare turned up a notch. "Is he?"

"Potions is practically the only class he's still doing okay in. Harry's only passing Herbology because he's partnered with Neville, who's doing all the work. He's not transfigured anything in class in weeks. He's doing okay in the practical charms, but all of his essays are coming back marked 'Poor'. He's not even turning in essays for Defense, and I don't think he's even attended Divination in weeks! And yes, I know it's a useless class, but it's still going to be on his OWLs! I've tried talking to him when I can find him, but he's spending all of his time in the Restricted Section of the library, and refuses to tell me what he's researching."

"Why are you bringing this to me?"

"Because no one else is able to do anything," she answered. "Professor McGonagall has tried to talk to him, but he's not listening. Even Headmaster Dumbledore called him up to meet with him, but he wouldn't even talk to him. I've tried pushing him to study, but he just ignores me. I don't know what else to do! This year is too important for him to just fritter it away like this. No one else seems to care... except..."

"Except who?"

"Well, not really a who, so much as a when. He missed Quidditch practice. He tried to pass it off as not bothering to attend because you still hadn't given him his broom back, but I saw his face. He'd actually forgotten about it. That's not like him at all."

"Be assured, Miss Granger. It will be dealt with." Snape said in a silky smooth but dangerous tone of voice.

Hermione barely held in her shiver but nodded her agreement. "Thank you," she told him, turning to leave. She didn't know exactly what was going to happen, but for some reason she believed him when he said it would be dealt with.

Harry kicked away a balled up piece of paper that had dared to get in his way. It wasn't what he truly wanted to do, but kicking the Headmaster was liable to get him into trouble. Dumbledore had called him up to his office to have a 'chat'. Condescending old coot. For a moment, Harry felt guilty for thinking that of the Headmaster, but then he shook it off. So he hadn't been paying much attention to his studies, so what? Finding the spell to bind Voldemort's soul was much more important than trying to come up with new ways of offing himself for Divination or writing essays for DADA or Charms on things he'd learned ages ago. And what good would Herbology, even Transfiguration, do against Voldemort? Except for the animagus transformation, the rest of it seemed a bit silly.

He was glad he was heading to the dungeons. At least there he wouldn't have to worry about anything but whatever they were learning that evening, and he'd find out what Draco and Snape had managed to come up with. So far he'd come up blank both with his research and with Madam Pomfrey. He was pretty sure he'd managed to talk to the medi-witch without raising her suspicious, since Dumbledore hadn't said anything that referred to his discussion with Pomfrey while he was in his office. Harry would have been more pleased about that if he had actually learned something worthwhile.

He walked into the dungeon classroom, no sign of his annoyed mood showing. However, Snape quickly changed that.

"What are we doing today?" he asked.

"First, you will be showing me your homework," Severus responded.

"Huh?" Harry blinked. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I have been receiving reports that you are not doing what is required for your other classes."

"It's all fine," Harry said dismissively. "I'm doing okay in Potions; what else matters to you?"

"I will not allow your extra-curricular activities to impact your grades."

"You won't allow? It's none of your business. Now, what are we actually doing today?"

"You are a student, therefore it is my business."

"Look, none of those classes have anything to do with Voldemort, so they don't really matter, now do they? Now, can we get on with this?"

Scowling at Harry's use of the name, Severus said evenly, "Life does not revolve around the Dark Lord."

"You can actually say that with a straight face?" Harry asked in surprise. He shook that off. "For other people that might be true, but I'm not other people, am I? Once he's dead, if I'm still alive, *then* I can focus on my studies. But I won't have a life until he's gone. Now that we've found a way that might actually work, I'm not going to waste my time on inconsequentials when I can be working on something that might actually have major impact."

"Your schoolwork is not unimportant. Especially considering you have OWLs this year."

"It's my decision to make. I don't see why we're even having this conversation."

"Because I am your teacher."

"My *Potions* Professor. And my Potions score is fine. You're not my Head of House, or anything else that makes this in any way your business or your responsibility."

"I am the one taking up your time. I am also the one who can, and will, get your access to the Restricted Section canceled."

"Don't you dare!" Harry surged forward angrily.

"I will not allow this research to interfere with your studies. End of discussion!" Snape snapped back.

"It is none of your business!" Harry yelled at him.

"I disagree."

"Disagree to your heart's content, but keep your beak out of it!"

Draco had been watching all of this with interest, but his eyes almost popped out of his head at that comment. He could not believe Harry had gone there.

Snape's black eyes narrowed and he stalked forward. Harry held his ground, looking up at him defiantly. "Do you truly want to go there?" Snape asked in a soft, deadly voice.

Harry gulped but refused to back down. "What I'm doing is *important*!"

"So are your studies. *He* will be around for a while longer, but you will only have one chance at your OWLs. I will not allow you to throw away your chance at your future options over this."

"It's not your choice! It's mine!"

"You're wrong. I'm the adult here, and you are under my guardianship. I accepted that when I started to teach you. Therefore, I have the right and responsibility to make sure you do what is necessary to succeed, not merely survive."

Harry laughed darkly. "You're acting like you're my father. Well, I've got news for you. You're not!"

"I am aware of that! If I were, you'd be over my knee in a moment," Severus answered before he thought. He was aware of his mistake as soon as he said it. He was actually going to apologize to the suddenly pasty-faced young man, but before he could get a word out, Harry had turned and fled out the door.

"That went well," Draco snarled. He turned off the fire under his cauldron and grabbed up his bag, storming out the door before any more could be said. Severus Snape was left behind in his classroom, having to deal with the fact that he had just ruined any progress he thought he'd been making with the young Gryffindor. The memory of Harry's stricken face felt like it was burned onto the back of his eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

Another two chapters up for you today! Aren't you lucky! I think you are anyway /grin/.

Hope you're still enjoying this, considering the people belong to Rowling, the betaing to Xikum, and nothing but the plot to me! :whispers: Review if you do.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Severus waited only five minutes before checking the Tell-Tale he had placed upon Harry. He expected to find him heading towards the Gryffindor dorms or the Astronomy tower. If he were headed for the dorms, he would leave him alone and let his friends help. But, if he were headed for the Astronomy Tower, he would follow. Instead, Harry seemed to still be in the dungeons. Severus quickly left the classroom and followed the spell towards one of the unused storerooms. Once he entered, he looked around, seeing no sign of the boy for whom he was searching.

He knew Harry was aware of the spell he had placed upon him, and wondered if the boy had managed to transfer it to an animal or insect, when his eye happened upon a closed cabinet. Surely not? "Harry?" he said softly. There was a small noise from within the closed cupboard. "I will stay here until you come out," he warned. He considered opening the door and forcing him out, but felt that would do more harm than good. Instead, he conjured up a pair of chairs and settled himself down to wait in one of them.

While he waited, he considered why Harry would have come here. From what he knew of Harry, it would have made more sense if he had headed for the Astronomy Tower, or even the Quidditch pitch. He seemed to prefer heights when he was unhappy or worried. Not to a place that would remind him of his old 'room'.

He had expected to be waiting for a long time, but only ten minutes after he got there, the door slowly opened. Snape waited, calm on the outside as Harry crept out. He had been bracing himself for the sight of fear on the boy's face, but was completely surprised by the shame that was there instead.

"I'm sorry," Harry blurted out as he walked slowly towards his professor.

"For what reason?" Severus asked, surprised. "My words were... unfortunate."

Harry shrugged, still looking down. "My reaction was a bit more unfortunate, don't you think?"

"You had your reasons," Snape said gently.

"No, I didn't," Harry disagreed. "They were just words, you hadn't made a move against me."

"Sit down," Severus ordered.

Harry did as he was told, but his eyes never left the floor.

"We were in the middle of an argument. There was yelling involved, and I said something I shouldn't have. In the heat of the moment, you took it to be truth. There's nothing wrong with that. Especially considering you don't yet trust me."

"What makes you think that?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"If you trusted me, you wouldn't still believe you could do anything that would make me physically hurt you."

There wasn't much Harry could say about that. He made a slight shrug.

"Why here?" Severus asked the question that had been bugging him since he found the boy. "I thought you would dislike small, dark places."

Harry shook his head. "Not at all. My cupboard was the only sanctuary I had. In there, usually, no one bothered me. Sure, Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia would pull me out when they wanted me to do something, or lock me back in when they didn't have any work for me to do, but they never hurt me while I was in there. They couldn't fit."

"I see," Severus replied, fitting another piece into the puzzle that was Harry Potter.

"I'm sorry for arguing with you," Harry said, his voice sounding as if the words were being pulled from him. "But really, I don't see what the big deal is, nor what business it is of yours. You're not acting like yourself. You wouldn't care if it were anyone else."

"That is where you are wrong. I would indeed care if it were one of my Slytherins. I suppose that since we have been spending so much time together, I have begun treating you like I would one of them."

"Huh," Harry looked surprised at that thought. He obviously hadn't thought of it that way.

"As for what the big deal is," Snape continued, "the way you were speaking, it was not just as if classes were not important, which they most certainly are, but also as if you don't believe you will be alive to worry about your future. And that attitude I will not put up with. Neither of them, actually."

Harry continued to look down, but started to scrub his hands across the robe covering his knees. "Do you really think I will?"

"Will what?"

"Survive."

"I have little doubt," Severus said immediately. "Because you're not going to fight him again until you're ready, and you will not be doing it alone."

Harry barked a laugh. "Not being ready has never stopped me before. What makes you think it will now? It's never stopped him before, either. As for going it alone, I'm not going to get any more people killed because they were with me. It's just not going to happen."

"Who said you had a choice? It's not just your fight."

"Tell that to the people who keep expecting me to kill Voldemort, just because I banished him when I was too young to know what I was doing," Harry said harshly.

"Since when have you cared what people thought?" Severus prodded, remaining focused on the boy's reactions, deciphering the myriad mix of underlying emotions.

"Not even you can completely ignore them," Harry said, with the first sign of his normal spark since he'd been found.

"But I certainly try," Snape smirked.

Harry smiled slightly. "I can't do that. Oh, I don't care what the world says about me, not really. What the people believe has more to do with what the paper says than anything real about me. But my friends, my teachers... no matter how much I sometimes might wish to ignore them, I can't."

"If you can ignore *me*, I see no reason why you are incapable of ignoring them."

"Um, because I care what they think?" Harry said. His downcast face didn't quite hide the smile tugging at the sides of his mouth.

"I suggest you rearrange your priorities," Snape said in a mock-threat. "Now, I believe you have some homework to complete?"

Harry glared, but it was half-hearted, and he reluctantly stood up. Snape stood as well and banished the chairs. As Harry went past him, he went to lay his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry's flinch and quick move away from him destroyed any idea he might have had that he hadn't done as much damage to their relationship as he had originally thought.

Harry led the way back to the classroom where he'd left his bag and pulled out the work he'd already done. He handed it over to his Potions professor to read over.

He flinched as Snape reached for his quill and red ink. Sure enough, the man ended up marking all over the paper. He handed it back with a scowl. "Mr. Crabbe could do a better job than that," he told him.

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Harry frowned, taking it back to look over. It was the first time he'd read it through since he'd written it quickly, immediately after class. Now, looking at it, he winced as he read it over. It sounded like something a seven year old would write, which did put it at about Crabbe's level.

When Draco came in half an hour later, after being unable to find the Gryffindor boy, he found Harry rewriting the essay for the third time. He'd been allowed to pull several books from Severus' personal library and was working diligently. Draco didn't say anything about what had happened earlier, rather he chose to simply return to what he had been doing before the argument broke out. It wasn't until Snape left the room that he addressed the situation.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked quietly.

Harry nodded, looking away, embarrassed. "I'm sorry I lost it like that."

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "I won't hold it over you this time," he answered. "So, did you come back on your own, or did he go find you?"

"He came after me," Harry admitted.

"Did he apologize?" Draco asked with interest.

Harry was surprised into a snicker. "What do you think?"

"Not in those words," Draco smirked.

"I figured that his coming after me was as much an apology as I was going to get."

"Probably true," Draco replied.

"Where did you head off to?"

Draco shrugged. "I figured he wouldn't allow himself to lose face by running after you while I was here, so I left. I met Blaise, and we talked for a while."

"Blaise? Is that the dark-haired boy that seems to be by himself most of the time?"

"His family isn't as old or pureblood as most of ours, not to mention they aren't even considered dark, so he's not really part of any group. He doesn't mind. It's not like there's really anyone besides myself with whom he could enjoy an intelligent conversation."

"But you get on with him?"

"I, as you have seen, can get along with anyone. I get along with you, after all. I would think that would show you how open-minded I can be." The smirk fell off his face and he looked seriously at the boy he wouldn't admit to anyone was his friend. "You do realize he didn't mean it, don't you?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, I know. He was just upset and said the first thing that came to mind. Not a state I usually think of Snape as being in, that's for sure."

"You *are* going to hold it over his head as long as possible, are you not?"

Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You're practically a Slytherin by now," Draco informed him. "You're required to take advantage of something like that."

Harry actually laughed. "Only if he makes me write this stupid essay over again."

Having heard what he needed, Severus moved away from the office doorway and headed off to complete his errand. Inside the room, Harry and Draco grinned at one another. Severus was the one that had taught them to notice when someone was around. Did he think they'd suddenly forget?

Two days later, Hermione was looking much happier with Harry since he'd started turning in his homework again. The quidditch team was much happier with him since Snape had given him back his broom and he hadn't missed practice. It had been ridiculously easy to get the broom back; all it had taken was judicious use of puppy dog eyes. Harry hadn't been aware that Professor Snape was vulnerable to that look, but Draco had given him the heads up about it.

He was back in the Restricted Section, under strict orders that any extracurricular research not interfere with his schoolwork, which must be brought back up and not fall again. He was reading through another big, dusty book describing things he didn't quite understand when his gaze suddenly became intent. He reread over the section once more, but still wasn't quite sure he understood. He looked around and noticed Draco looking through his own book, several tables away. He grabbed a piece of parchment and wadded it up, lobbing it over to the other boy. Using magic was strictly prohibited within the environs of the library.

Draco looked up and glared around as he felt the paper strike him. His eyes caught sight of Harry as he caught Draco's notice, then got up and walked behind several shelves. Draco took a quick but thorough look around before getting up to follow after him.

"What do you have?" he asked quietly.

"That depends," Harry whispered back. "What's a nine-by-nine linked circle?"

Draco's eyes widened slightly. "I don't think there's ever been a nine-by-nine linked circle."

"But what is it?"

"Well, do you know what a linked circle is?"

Harry shook his head.

"Professor Snape could probably explain it better," Draco warned him. "A linked circle is when a group of wizards pool their powers into one person who does whatever spell it is that needs all that power. A circle can have any number of people, but three, four or nine are the most usual. They simply work better. Yes, there's a reason for that, but I'm not going to get into that right now. Since the power has to go through the leader of the circle, how much he can hold dictates how big the circle can be made. Nine is generally considered the top limit, but that is only theoretical. A nine-by-nine circle is, at least so far as I've heard, only a myth. It hasn't been done. A nine-by-nine circle would have eighty-one wizards, nine circles of nine. The people holding each of those circles' power, themselves in turn link into a circle of their own, and channel it to the leader. However, I don't believe any one person could hold that much power."

"Unless it was a mage," Harry said thoughtfully.

Draco thought that over. "Perhaps you're right," he agreed slowly. "But where would we get seventy-eight other people?"

"Would we need them? We've got three mages. How many wizards do you think that's worth?"

"Why don't you show me the spell?"

Harry handed over the book and pointed out the relevant portions.

As Draco read it over, he quickly became as excited about it as Harry was. "Maybe three mages are enough. If they are, this would be near perfect."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Have you seen what the vessel would be made of? It's not going to be easy to get that many diamonds, especially since they have to be without any excess magic."

Harry grabbed the book back and read that part. He had only skimmed it earlier. Now he saw what Draco meant. That vessel itself was going to be difficult to make, and the potion they would need to brew looked near impossible. Well beyond his and Draco's abilities, at any rate. They could assist, but could one Potions Master handle the complexities, essentially without additional expert support? He made that comment and Draco agreed. "I've never seen the like. Look at this; it's going to take a month of nonstop potion making. I'm not sure that even the three of us can do this."

"It's the best we've ever come up with," Harry reminded him. "Besides, I really think this is the one we're supposed to use."

"Why?"

"Look at what is one of the only things that will destroy the vessel once it's made and full," Harry told him.

Draco read it over and smirked. "The flame of a fire drake." He looked up at Harry. "Copy it. We'll take it to Severus."

Harry had taken the book back but stopped and stared at Draco when he said that. "Severus?" he asked, his eyebrow raised.

"What?" Draco whined. "I've only known him since I was born. Besides, Slytherin tends not to use last names when we talk amongst one another, and you're *almost* a Slytherin."

"I don't think I'll follow your lead on that one, thank you. I don't want to see what he'd do if I were that familiar."

Draco snorted. "He likes you," the blonde told him. "If he didn't, you wouldn't be spending so much time in his wonderful company, now would you?"

"Still," Harry said distractedly as he was carefully copying down every word from the book. While other books typically allowed for copy and duplication spells, those held in the Restricted Section did not. They were rare, and covered more powerful, advanced magic, so they were commonly spelled with any number of anti-copying protections and curses. The only way to copy those books was the old fashioned way. He finally finished and handed the copy over to Draco to check. This was too important for him to risk having forgotten an instruction or missed an ingredient.

Once Draco had checked it over, they headed down to the Potions classroom. It wasn't their usual time, but this was too important to wait, and Draco was sure his professor didn't have classes at the moment.

They didn't think of how they probably looked, heading together to the dungeons with determined looks upon their faces, until they ran into several other students in the hallway, who gaped at the sight of the pair. Draco noticed their alarm first. He immediately turned to Harry. "Why are you following me? Planning on hexing me when my back is turned?"

Harry quickly caught on. "I'm not a Slytherin back-stabber. And I'm not following you, you just happen to be going in the same direction as I."

"Well, find another way to go, before I decide it may be worthwhile to see what I can do to you before any teachers can interfere," Draco sneered. He turned on his heel and stalked off, leaving Harry glaring at his back. The students around slowly continued on their way, reassured that everything was right in the world.

Once alone, Harry closed his eyes and took a breath. He hated having to act like that.

"Why don't you just admit that you're friends?" a quiet voice asked. Harry's eyes flew open to see Neville standing in front of him. A quick look around showed that they were alone.

"What are you talking about?"

"You and Malfoy," Neville answered. "Why don't you admit you're friends?"

"What makes you think we are?"

"You're with each other every night, and I don't think you're really having detention with Professor Snape."

Harry gave half a smile. "You'd be surprised."

"I don't think I would. Why don't you just let people know you're friends with him? After all, I haven't had very many problems being friends with Thyme."

"There's a difference between a Gryffindor being friends with someone that half the people who see you probably don't even recognize as a Slytherin, and the Gryffindor Golden Boy being friends with Slytherin's Silver Prince. Yeah, people would care. They care about the stupidest things when it comes to me."

Neville couldn't really argue with that. They did seem to hold Harry up to a different standard than themselves, but he still didn't think it would matter that much.

"It would matter," Harry told him, seemingly reading his mind. "If I started preferring to spend my time with Slytherins, the others'd all turn on me, say I was going Dark. They've done it before."

"I wouldn't," Neville said staunchly.

"I know, but then they'd make your life miserable as well. Especially because of Scarborough. I'm not worth you getting into that kind of trouble." He turned around and started to walk away.

"Yes, you are, Harry," Neville called after him. "Believe it or not, I'm not going to turn on you. And not just because you're the one who convinced Professor Snape to pair up Thyme and I."

Harry turned to look at him in surprise. "How did you..." he started.

"I didn't," Neville smiled. "Thyme thought it was you, but we didn't know for sure. We do now."

Harry laughed, looking much lighter, and shook his head. "I'll see you later, Neville. I can see Thyme is having an influence on you. Maybe we can have a game of Exploding Snap later tonight?"

"I'll look forward to it. And one of these days, you're going to have to explain what's so blasted important in the library."

"One of these days," Harry agreed, promising nothing. With a wave back over his shoulder, he headed towards the dungeons.

When he reached the Potions classroom, he found Professor Snape deeply immersed in the parchment.

"Well? Do you think it will work?" Harry asked excitedly.

Severus leaned back in his chair. "It is the closest we have seen to something that will completely destroy the Dark Lord," he admitted. "However, it's going to require many ingredients I don't even have in my private stock, a *lot* of diamonds, and more time than I honestly believe we have. Even supposing that the three of us have enough power to do it, and I'm not positive that we do, I do not know if we could make the potion, not in the middle of the school year."

Harry drooped. He didn't want to wait; he'd lived with it long enough. "So I'm going to have to fight him *again*, without it," he muttered.

Severus glared at him. "You're not fighting him alone, or at all, as far as I'm concerned."

"Are you saying he's not planning something for this year?" Harry asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about," Snape bit out.

Harry snorted. "Yeah. Right."

Draco broke in. "I know someone that could help."

"The person you were talking about last week?"

Draco nodded. "This weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. Can you both get to the Three Broomsticks for lunch? Say, half twelve?"

"I will be escorting the students this weekend," Snape said, "so I shall be able to go if it does not take more than one hour."

"By now, no one is going to be surprised if I go off by myself," Harry said. "I can meet you there. Are you going to tell us who it is, and why we can't meet down here?"

"You'll see," Draco said, with a secretive little smile that caused shivers of dread to run up and down Harry's spine.


	12. Chapter 12

Only one chapter today, because I like where it ends /grin/.

Do be aware, when I wrote this there was no information on the Malfoy family beyond the parents. I know **now** that Lucius' father was not a nice person and named Abraxis, but I didn't know that when the stories were originally written. So ignore anything you know about the past of the Malfoy family.

I disclaim Harry Potter! I heart Xikum! I feel silly!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry approached the small inn warily. He hadn't been able to get any more information about Draco's visitor and that worried him. He trusted Draco, well, mostly, but his hand was still on his wand as he walked up to the innkeeper and asked for the other boy's whereabouts. Being led to one of the private rooms didn't help his paranoia.

Madam Rosemerta had already turned and headed back to the main bar. A Hogsmeade weekend was not the time to leave it unattended. Several minutes later, Harry was still staring at the door as his professor walked up behind him.

"Are you just going to stand there like an idiot or are you going in?"

Harry flashed a grin at him, "What are my options again?"

Snape shook his head with a slight smile before reaching forward and opening the door. Harry took a deep breath and entered. Upon looking up, he came to a complete stop.

"You!"

Lucius Malfoy looked back calmly. "Mr. Potter," he said silkily.

"What are you doing here?" Harry spat out.

"I believe I could ask the same question of you. Draco? Would you care to explain?"

Draco stepped forward almost hesitantly. Snape was glaring at him, probably for springing this on him without warning, but it was Harry's reaction he was really worried about. "We need him."

"Did you even check and make sure that Professor Snape was right?"

"Of course I did."

"And I suppose you're just going to take his word for it?" Harry snarled, his glare barely moving away from the older man.

"He wouldn't lie to me," Draco was getting annoyed.

"He can't be trusted."

"He's my father!"

"He hurt you," Harry was practically growling by this point.

Lucius had been watching this all with interest, but there was no way he was going to let that go. "I have never hurt my son!"

"He's never hurt me!" Draco said at the same time, his voice every bit as outraged as his fathers.

Harry's eyes narrowed and he stalked forward, grabbing Draco's arm and dragging him into a corner. Once there, he quickly set up a privacy shield.

Draco turned on him as soon as they were alone. "How could you say that my father would ever hurt me?"

"Well someone certainly did!" Harry hissed back. "I saw your eyes that very first day. You don't get scared like that without a reason."

"So you thought it was my father?"

"Hey, the times I've met him have given me that impression, yes."

"My father loves me and has never laid a hand on me," Draco growled back, still angry.

"Then who did?"

Draco just looked at him for a long moment. "Lord Malfoy," he finally answered, looking away.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You do know that your father *is* Lord Malfoy," he said, semi-patiently. He was worried though. What if Draco was... what was it called? Disassociating?

"He is *now*," Draco answered, rolling his eyes as well. "You obviously haven't considered one of the pitfalls of long life. Many generations in one house. In this case, it was my great-grandfather, but I was never allowed to call him anything but Lord Malfoy."

"He must have been old."

Draco scoffed. "He was less than half the age of the Headmaster."

That brought Harry up short. He certainly didn't think Dumbledore's age would stop him from doing anything he wished to do.

"Well than, why didn't your father stop him, if he loves you so much?"

Draco stalked forward, his eyes narrowed. "I would suggest," he said in a low, but dangerous voice, "that you stop insulting my father. I will *not* put up with it. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded. Draco was looking more dangerous than he'd ever seen him. It wouldn't stop him from trying to protect him if he needed it, though.

"He couldn't stop it," Draco explained. "I was the future heir. Legally, Lord Malfoy had more right to my custody than my own father did. And if father fought him... well, let's just say it was an interesting *_coincidence_* that my grandfather died mysteriously just days after I was born. Lord Malfoy was never happy with him as an heir. Truthfully, I'm not sure my father would have survived long if I had had a child before Lord Malfoy died. Father did what he could, though Lord Malfoy sent him away on business trips a lot while I was growing up. He'd protect me whenever he was there and heal me up."

"He yelled a lot?"

Draco shook his head, a far away look in his eyes. "His voice would get quieter the more angry he got."

"But you're scared of yelling," Harry pushed.

"With my mother, it's best to be. When she gets angry she starts yelling and throwing things. Bottles, cups, hexes, curses, house elves," he quirked his mouth into a parody of a smile. "I try my best to stay out of her way. It's not hard. I was the price she had to pay to receive the riches and worship of the Malfoy name, nothing more."

Harry stared at him for a long, long moment. "I'll give him the benefit of the doubt if it means so much to you," he finally said. "But don't expect me to trust him anytime soon."

"I asked Severus to bring Veritaserum," Draco murmured.

Harry's fake smile turned into a real grin. "Good to see I'm not the only one who's paranoid."

"Hey, I might trust him, but I'm not stupid," Draco answered. "I trust him with my life, but I *_don't_* know for sure how he feels about Vol... Tom. And I won't risk your life, or Severus' or our chance to finally get rid of that monster, on my beliefs."

"Okay, so maybe you have actually thought this through," Harry replied. However, that didn't mean he was going to let his guard down. This man had already risked the lives of students at Hogwarts; he was not someone that Harry was going to trust anytime soon. He put down the privacy barrier, and they walked back into the room.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Lucius pulled out his wand as soon as the barrier went up.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Severus suggested.

"And why not? He certainly can not be trusted in there with my son," Lucius argued. He threw a spell to take down the barrier, only to get himself shocked.

Severus manfully kept from laughing at the sight of his friend's mane standing straight up from the electricity. "Because Harry tends to booby-trap his privacy spells," he explained, just a bit too late. "He got tired of his friends ignoring his wish for privacy. It could be worse," he brought out his own wand to smooth down the blonde's hair, "last time Madam Pomfrey, Flitwick and myself all worked on changing the trespasser's skin back from purple and were not able to manage it. Potter never would tell us what spell he used and it took almost a week to wear off."

"Why is he here, Severus?" Lucius asked, still glaring at the screen. "For that matter, why are you here? All Draco would say was that there was something he needed to speak to me about, in private."

"Although I can't say for sure why you are here, I believe both Potter and I are here because Draco trusts us."

"You're telling me that my son *trusts* Harry Potter? I was under the impression that the two of them could not stand each other."

"Up until the beginning of this year, that was true. Now however, if they were in the same House they would be inseparable."

"And you approve?" Lucius glared at the dark-haired man.

"You don't?"

"Certainly not! Potter is on the top of the Dark Lord's most wanted list and he's putting Draco on the firing line. If you're not going to put a stop to this, I most certainly am."

"That wouldn't be a good idea."

"You might not care if Draco gets hurt because of Potter, but I do and I will not allow it!"

Before Severus could argue with that, the privacy shield came down and the two boys walked back out, obviously having come to agreeable terms.

Lucius opened his mouth and Severus prepared himself to argue with whatever he was going to say. What he did say however, was a complete surprise.

"Potter? Why do you have a tail?"

Everyone's eyes went to the back of Harry's robes where a hole had unexpectedly appeared. Sure enough, there was a black furred and tufted tipped tail whipping easily back and forth.


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry about this being late. One problem with summer vacation, you lose track of days ^_^. You get two chapters in this one to make up for it.

Mythic Alliance by Jendra

"You're manifesting!" Draco said in a delighted squeal. He quickly checked himself over but didn't see anything different and turned a pout on his friend. "Why are you manifesting and I'm not?" he mock-growled.

Harry's eyebrow went up. He never would have expected Draco to act like that in front of his father.

Lucius was feeling exactly the same. He never would have expected Draco to act like that in front of Potter.

"I'm losing my patience," he growled. "What is going on here?"

Harry watched as Draco's face immediately turned blank. He turned and glared at the older man and started stalking towards him, his new tail swishing agitatedly behind him. Once close enough, he began to speak, his voice low but clear to everyone in the room. "Draco trusts you, Snape likes you. I'm not either one of them. If you ever do anything to hurt one of them, I'll make you wish Voldemort got hold of you. Do you understand?"

"Harry!" Draco gasped. It took all of Severus' self-control to keep from reacting. Harry was defending him. It had been a long time since anyone had bothered to do that.

Lucius glared right back. "Oh, I understand completely. And if you ever do something that gets either of them hurt, I will give you to Voldemort myself."

Harry and Lucius just stood there glaring at each other for a long moment, but Harry's tail was settling down and waving lazily by this point. Finally, he backed down and smirked. "You can try."

Lucius smirked back and made one sharp nod in acknowledgment. Although they were both backing down, their eyes never left each other and never became less wary. "Well? Are you at least going to explain the tail?"

"Step 7 of becoming an animagus, inadvertent manifestation of aspects of your form brought on by high emotion or stress," Harry explained easily.

"So your animagus form is a black lion," Lucius stated more than asked.

"Um... nope," Harry smirked back.

"Now that the requisite posturing is out of the way, can we get on with this?" Snape drawled.

"If he takes the Veritaserum you've got with you," Harry answered. "I'm not talking to him without it."

"What, boy, you don't trust me?" Lucius smirked.

"Not as far as I can throw you," Harry replied.

"And why, exactly, do you think I would even consider taking Veritaserum?" Lucius asked. "I have no desire or intention that any secrets I happen to be holding be spread out over the entire student population of Hogwarts."

"You're going to take it because I'm asking you to," Draco spoke up. "And if you don't, I won't ever be able to go back home."

Lucius looked at him in well-concealed shock.

"And what's to keep me from just taking you home right now and forgetting this nonsense?" Lucius asked.

Harry and Severus whipped out their wands immediately.

"They are," Draco answered with a small smile.

Lucius considered the choice he had been given. "No," he finally answered. "I will not justify my past decisions to a couple of children."

"Who's asking you to?" Draco asked in surprise. "I don't want to know what you've done." He ignored Harry's quick "I do." "That's not why we're asking you to take it, and if you want, everyone here will swear not to ask you a single question about things that happened in the past. At least as much as we can avoid it."

"Hold on," Harry spoke up. "I want to know what he thought he was doing during Second Year."

"And I will not answer," Lucius replied.

"And we won't ask," Draco turned to glare at Harry. "Is that really as important right now as what we really need to ask him?"

"Because of him, Ginny almost died," Harry responded angrily. Then he sighed and got himself under control. "But no, I suppose it's not as important *at this moment*."

"And I'm supposed to just take your word that you won't ask?" Lucius asked silkily.

"Do you want me to stay out of it?" Harry asked, meaning it. He wasn't entirely sure that he'd be able to keep from asking some of the questions he really wanted answered. "I can have a muting charm placed on me while you're being asked. If I think one of them is missing something, I'll write it down."

Lucius looked at him in surprise, and for the first time realized the magnitude of what was going on here as well as getting a glimmering of what it was truly about. Slowly, he nodded. "Under those conditions, I will agree."

Harry and Draco rose together, and everyone noticed that Harry's tail had disappeared at some point during the talk. They started placing every silencing and privacy charm they knew on the circumference of the room while Severus pulled out the vial of truth potion. Severus and then Lucius checked the spells before approving them. Then Lucius sat down at the table. Draco placed the muting charm on his friend, and Severus carefully placed three drops of the serum into Lucius' open mouth.

They started with innocuous questions to make sure the potion was working correctly; then Snape got down to business.

"Do you serve the Dark Lord?" Harry kicked him hard in his shin and glared back when the Potions Professor turned to look at him.

"Detention Potter," Snape snarled.

Harry just rolled his eyes and continued to glare.

"Harry's right," Draco said with amusement. "You can't get accurate results by using nonspecific data."

"Fine," Snape growled. He turned back to Lucius who had already answered in the affirmative, but asked again. "Do you serve Voldemort?" His voice didn't even shake at saying the forbidden name. Harry smiled at him proudly.

"Yes," Lucius replied.

"Do you wish to serve Voldemort?"

"No."

"Why haven't you broken away from him?"

"It is not possible to remove the Dark Mark, and I will not risk my son to his madness."

"Do you wish Voldemort was still dead?"

"Yes."

"Will you betray your son to Voldemort?"

"Never!"

"Will you betray me to Voldemort?"

"No."

"Will you betray Harry Potter to Voldemort?"

"Perhaps."

Draco looked quickly at Harry, but that response didn't seem to bother the other boy at all.

"Under what circumstances?"

"If he were a threat to my son, or if it came to a choice between them."

Severus also looked at Harry, asking if it was okay to go on. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered asking a student for permission to do anything. However, this was obviously more dangerous for the boy then either of the other two. Harry nodded in response.

"Would you work towards the destruction of Voldemort if you could do it with minimal risk?"

"Yes."

"Could you work with Harry Potter without animosity towards the destruction of Voldemort?"

"Perhaps."

"Will you try?"

"Yes."

The three inquisitors looked at each other, trying to think of something that they seriously needed to know before trusting Lucius and couldn't think of anything. Severus gave Lucius the counter-potion while Draco removed the muting spell on Harry.

"I thought the betraying thing would put you off of it," Draco said quietly.

"There's no way he could betray me about this without betraying you two," Harry muttered. "Besides, if he'd agreed with that bit, I would have been really suspicious."

"I suppose," Draco admitted, though he still wasn't happy about it.

Lucius considered the questions he had been asked and realized there was only one reason they would ask him those particular questions.

"So what is this plan?"

The three of them explained the plan, with the younger two occasionally sidetracking into mages, animagus forms and essays.

Lucius sat back and considered everything. "I will think about it and give you my answer in a few days," was all he would finally commit to.

"You're not leaving here without swearing not to speak of this to anyone else," Harry warned him.

"And how do you plan to enforce that?"

"A memory charm might work. Of course, I'd probably mess it up like Lockhart did, and take away all your memories, but that's a chance you will have to take," Harry smirked.

"It's okay, Harry," Draco calmed him down. "He's already said he won't betray me or Severus and there's no way he could tell anyone about this without doing that. No one would ever believe you could do it by yourself."

Although Harry agreed with him, he didn't take his eyes off of the older blonde.

Lucius smirked. He could almost get to like the feisty boy. He snorted softly to himself, *like that would ever happen*. "I won't speak of it to anyone," he promised, before sweeping out of the room.

Part 18/?

The next week was... interesting. Since all three had begun animagus training at about the same time, it was no real surprise that they all would start manifesting. Therefore, Draco didn't freak when he suddenly sprouted scales during an argument with Parkinson. Severus didn't even notice his hair changing to black feathers in the middle of a harangue against Ronald Weasley on the pure stupidity of adding dragon scales whole instead of crushed. Luckily, as far as they could tell, no one had noticed except Harry and Draco.

However, the other manifestations weren't expected at all. Nor could they figure out what brought them out. Harry's was a bit obvious. After all, having everyone in the Gryffindor Tower unable to tell a lie for a night _was_ hard to hide. Most people thought it was a new prank of the twins, and since no one else was taking credit for it, Harry encouraged that line of thought while he and the twins worked hard on finding a way to make it happen. Harry wanted to find a way to recreate his animagus' effect as well, feeling that that ability would be quite helpful, if only he could do it without having to completely switch to his animagus form. Unfortunately, for some reason once a person learned to transform all the way, they would no longer be able to transform part way. At least, that was the way it worked for regular animagi. Sure, it might be different for magical creatures, but he didn't want to take that chance. Therefore, the very last vestiges of his free time were taken up by the twins and their work on an answer.

Draco hadn't even known his power was manifesting until one morning when he went to turn off the shower. And realized that he'd never bothered to turn the hot water on. In his fully human form, his sudden imperviousness to cold temperatures disappeared, and he gave a shout as it was suddenly borne into him just exactly how cold the water at Hogwarts could get. He was shivering for most of the day.

Any ambivalence Severus might have had over his own form disappeared after the next time he was called. Of course, almost everything changed after that meeting.

Severus grabbed his arm and cursed silently. He hated when he was called while the boys were there. They both knew the signs of his being called. And they would worry. The last time he'd been called he had come back during the night to find Draco curled up in a chair in Severus' sitting room and Harry having been caught by Filch out after curfew. He wasn't used to people worrying about him, and it surprised him to realize that these two, one of whom had been nothing but an annoyance not too long before, would be seriously concerned.

Even Dumbledore seemed more concerned about the information than his survival. Not Draco and Harry, though. Even if they didn't wait for him, the next morning their eyes would go to him as soon as they reached the Great Hall, raking over him to see if he was hurt in any way. Why they bothered, considering he would have either healed or hidden any such signs, he wasn't sure, but it left a warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest, to know that if he *didn't* come back one of these days, there were at least two people who would care.

The rest of the world would probably dance around in glee, but he was quite used to being universally hated.

With a firm warning to the two students to put everything away and get to bed at a reasonable hour, he went back to his room to pick up his robe and mask and headed out the nearest secret passageway towards the edge of the Apparation wards of Hogwarts.

Happily, he was not the last to arrive. Voldemort had the tendency to make examples out of those who didn't come with enough celerity when called. After some minor business, the Dark Lord ordered both Severus and Lucius to come before him.

Hiding his worry behind admantium shields, Severus walked up and knelt before the snake man. He and Lucius gracefully bent down to kiss the hem of their Lord's robes before settling back onto their knees.

"It has been brought to my attention," Voldemort hissed, "that Severus Snape and Lucius' son, Draco Malfoy, have been spending time almost every day with Harry Potter. And yet, neither of you have bothered to tell me this yourself, nor have you brought Potter to me. Would you care to explain that?" His tone emphasized the fact that the explanation had better be good, which the two men in front of him were already well aware.

"My lord," Severus said immediately. "Are you also aware that Potter has withdrawn from his friends and does not seem to trust Dumbledore any longer?"

"Really?" Voldemort mused, his interest caught by those words.

"I believe there is a chance that he can be turned, my Lord. He is already civil to both myself and young Malfoy. We are working on him very slowly, I admit. After the past four years he does not trust easily. But I do believe we are making progress."

"And why did you not tell me of this earlier?" Voldemort asked menacingly.

"I did not want to bring this up, in case it all fell through," Severus explained. "He still does not trust either of us enough to leave Hogwarts' grounds with us, but I do believe his faith in us is growing. Slowly, but growing."

"Crucio!" Voldemort called out calmly. He held it on the Potions Master for almost a minute before releasing the curse and allowing the wizard to struggle back onto his knees. "It is not up to you to decide what I should or should not know. Obviously, some of you have forgotten that. I expect you to tell me *everything* that you have done to further our cause. That goes for all of you." He swept his gaze around the gathered Death Eaters, then turned his focus back to Severus. "You will bring Potter to me on Christmas Eve. It does not matter if he is willing or not. He *will* be in front of me on Christmas Eve. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my Lord," Severus agreed.

"He is not the only one," Voldemort continued. "On Christmas Day I want every child of yours, my faithful, to be brought before me to receive the Dark Mark. I do not care what their ages are. *Every* child you have will be brought before me, even if they are born that morning. Is that understood?"

There was a soft, nearly inaudible mutter of unhappiness from those gathered, but they voiced their agreement. They dared do nothing else.

"But, my Lord," Lucius spoke up. "What about those at Hogwarts? Dumbledore will know as soon as they return that they have the Mark."

"Are you questioning me?" Voldemort whispered dangerously.

"No, my Lord, of course not," Lucius back-tracked quickly.

Severus backed up as soon as he was allowed to move. All he could think as he backed into a shadowed corner, was that he needed to find out what Voldemort planned. He never noticed the shadows getting darker around him or the way he seemed to fade into them. Lucius did, though, and as most were dismissed he went towards that corner. "Stay right there," he whispered. "You'll be fine." He had looked up both animagus transformations and the forms he'd been told about since his meeting with the three, and was fairly sure what had happened.

So Severus stayed, well hidden, as Pettigrew scuttled into the room and all but the Inner Circle left. Severus had once been in the Inner Circle, but he was no longer trusted as much since the Dark Lord had returned. It is hard to truly know where the allegiance a double agent lies, and Voldemort was no fool. Of course Severus brought him information, but which side was being given more, and more useful intelligence? The Dark Lord must believe him to a degree, or he would have been long since tortured and dead… but neither was he going to chance Severus being put into such a position of trust.

"Nott," the Dark Lord began, once sure they were alone, "has been speaking to the Dementors of Azkaban, and they are close to agreeing to join us. Once that happens, we will retrieve those of your compatriots who have been confined there for all these years."

There was a subdued cheer for that.

"On January 2, once the Hogwarts Express has left King's Cross Station, we will be attacking Hogwarts."

Severus was not the only one who almost stopped breathing at that.

"All those that are there at the time will be killed. There will be no exceptions. Once the students return, they will be taken hostage. The purebloods will be held as hostages for their parents' good behavior. The others will be toys for my Death Eaters to play with until they are fed to the Dementors. Once Hogwarts and the children are ours, any dissension will be easy enough to deal with."

Voldemort gave out assignments as well as demanding silence of the plans from everyone and dismissing them.

Severus suddenly wanted nothing more than to be back in Hogwarts and was suddenly dizzy. When his eyes cleared, he looked around in disbelief. How did he get back to Hogwarts? He knew he didn't Apparate. Besides, it was impossible to Apparate inside Hogwarts. He stepped away from the wall and looked around to see Draco staring at him in fear. That's when he realized he was still wearing his mask and quickly took it off.

Draco blinked and then understanding crossed his face. "You walked out of the shadows," he informed his Head of House.

"I did what?"

"You walked out of the shadows. You must have manifested your magic like Harry and I did."

Snape nodded absently as he stripped off his overrobe. "I need to go see Dumbledore. Go to bed; we'll talk tomorrow."

Draco wasn't particularly happy with being pushed off like that, but understood. Severus didn't seem to be in any serious pain, so Draco allowed himself to be chivied off to his dorm.

The next morning Draco was surprised to find a package from his father coming in the morning mail. It wasn't time for his normal care package from home. He opened it to find the normal things, candy, money and a book or two. Underneath, though, was another box, with a mark on it that meant not to open in public. He opened the letter that went with it, while passing around the candy, as he always did.

'Dragon,

'Since I have plans that require that I be out of town for the next week, I am sending your care package early. There were several books I found that I believe might be useful to you in your fight against Gryffindors. I also found several potion books that I am sending to your professor, in your care. Please make sure he receives them.'

The rest of the letter was little more than gossip, but that was fine as the first paragraph told him everything he needed to know.

That night, he handed over the box to Snape before they began their lessons. He opened it quickly but carefully. Harry walked in early, worried about his professor, even though he'd seen him at the Great Hall for all meals.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Fine," Severus responded absently as he pulled out three necklaces with little hourglasses on them.

"What are those?" Draco asked. "Some new kind of fashion accessory?"

"Time turners," Harry answered for the teacher who was already reaching into the box again. "Hermione had one third year so she could go to all the courses she wanted to take. It moves you back an hour for each turn."

"Brilliant," Draco muttered in awe. "Do you know the kinds of things we could do with those?"

Harry grinned back. "Oh yeah, that's something I've been thinking about for years."

Severus, meanwhile, was pulling out a velvet bag. He opened it and poured out a sparkling heap of diamonds.

"What the?" Draco muttered. He reached over and picked up several of them, showing they were connected in a necklace. "I recognize this. Mother bought it about two years ago for some party she wanted to attend. I think she changed her mind about wearing it, though. That was really annoying because she whined to father for weeks before he finally bought it for her."

Harry's mind, however, was working on another idea. "Why is he sending this now? I thought we weren't going to start on the potion and spell until the summer, but this seems to be saying we need to get it done during school. What happened last night?"

Severus answered after reading the note that was sent to him. "Draco's father has decided to help us out. Your suspicions regarding last night's meeting are right; we need to get it done before Christmas. We no longer have any choice."


	14. Chapter 14

Lucky you! I decided this all went together, so I stuck 3 chapters together to give you the longest chapter yet! This brings us to the end of Chapter 21 out of 35, so we're getting there fairly quickly grin. All about animagus forms! Thanks to JK Rowling for making these guys and Xikum for making it all better. Comments would be really cool!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry laid on his back, staring up at the stars spattered across the night sky. If he had thought he was busy before, it was absolutely nothing compared to what was coming up. They hadn't been able to start the potion yet, Snape was still waiting for several of the ingredients, but they had already created a schedule for the stirring. Harry thought over his again. He'd get up in the morning, get dressed, go to breakfast, then use the time turner to go back in time an hour to stir, then three hours of classes and turn time back an hour to stir. An hour of class, lunch, another hour of class, and use the time turner for another hour to stir. Two more hours of classes, Quidditch practice, back an hour and stir. Study, dinner, back an hour. Detention where they would take turns, then three more hours of stirring, before he'd finally get to turn time back three hours and go to bed. Wake up in the morning and repeat. It was going to be hell.

Of course, even worse than all of that, was the fact that Professor Snape was going to be taking the middle watch at night. Which meant that he would have his sleep interrupted and more than likely spend the entire month even *more* grouchy than usual. That assumed that he could get any grouchier, but Harry had the bad feeling that he could.

Right now, however, he was simply enjoying the night. All three of them had managed the partial physical transformations at will, even though none of them had yet been able to intentionally manifest their magical abilities. Tonight they were going to try for the whole thing. Since all three of their forms flew, and Harry's and Draco's were apt to be fairly large, they'd decided that the quidditch pitch was the best place to try. So here he was, waiting.

His view of the stars was suddenly blocked by a blonde head of hair. He just blinked up, unsurprised. He'd heard Draco coming from half the field away. "Pull up some grass," he offered.

Draco laughed lightly and laid himself down at right angles with his head next to Harry's. "What are you doing?"

"Thinking about our schedule," Harry admitted. "It's going to be brutal."

"Our schedule? Of all the things you might be thinking about, *that's* what you're contemplating?"

"What do you think I should be thinking about?"

"How about what it will be like to fly on our own wings? Or that we've finally got a chance to eliminate the Dark Lord?"

Harry turned over onto his stomach so he could glare at Draco more easily, before sighing and flipping back over. "It doesn't seem quite real yet," he admitted. "Especially considering the time of year."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about it," Harry told him. "My fights have always been at the end of the school year. I fought Quirrell at the end of first year, I fought Riddle at the end of second year, I found Sirius and Peter at the end of third and Voldemort got his body back at the end of fourth. That's the way it's always been. I worry all year, and then fight him at the end of it. You know, I think I'd gotten it into my head that that's the way it would continue all through school, and I'd either manage to get rid of him at the end of seventh year or after I left school altogether, once I became an Auror."

"You want to be an Auror?" Draco asked in disbelief.

"No," Harry admitted. "But if I were still having to fight Voldemort, I probably would have to be, just to get the extra training."

"Ah, so we *are* saving you from a fate worse than death," Draco remarked.

Harry lost his brooding expression and laughed.

They were silent for a while longer, just looking up at the stars, when a throat cleared from nearby. "Hello Sev," Draco remarked with a smirk.

"Good evening, Professor Snape," Harry greeted him.

"You know, you can call him Severus," Draco reminded him. "Can't he Sev? He's practically a Slytherin."

Severus raised an eyebrow at his best friend's son. "I believe his father would turn over in his grave if he even considered calling me by my name." Hmm... "In that case, yes, I believe it would be acceptable."

Severus offered his hand to help Draco stand, and then offered the same to Harry. He was very pleased to see Harry grab his hand with no noticeable hesitation at all. It had taken weeks before Harry would accept a touch from him without flinching or moving away.

Harry chuckled as he stood up. "Is something funny, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked severely.

"I'm just trying to imagine Sirius' reaction if I call you Severus the next time I write to him," Harry explained.

"Watching your dogfather have a conniption would be enjoyable, I admit," Severus agreed.

"I'll make sure you get any response he sends me," Harry told him. "I can hear the screaming already."

"If you are finished, can we do this?" Draco asked, willfully ignoring the fact that he was the one who had started it.

"Let's," Harry answered, "Who's first?"

"Since Gryffindors seem to have no concept of patience, you may go first," Severus offered.

Harry wanted to complain about that preconception, but not as much as he wanted to actually go ahead and try. With eager movements he took off his shirt, shoes and socks, leaving him clad in just his pants. His robe was already laying on the edge of the field. Technically, he shouldn't have needed to strip, since his clothes should change with him if he did it correctly, but he'd rather not take the chance.

He stood in the middle of the field. He would have preferred to be sitting cross-legged, but didn't even want to think about how it would feel if he transformed from that position. His eyes closed and he fell into his meditative breathing. He pulled up the picture of his form and held it in front of his metaphysical eyes. Little by little, he pushed himself into that form, forcing his body into an inhuman shape. It hurt. Not as much as the Cruciatus, but still, the pain was formidable. Yet, Harry had withstood worse many, many times before in a variety of situations, and he battled it back, refusing to allow pain to take away from his concentration. He knew it would only hurt that badly the first time, that once his body *knew* his new shape, knew it down to the cells, it would be able to shift with little to no difficulty. This step however, was the one that kept many people from ever being able to develop their Animagus ability. If they couldn't keep their concentration, if they couldn't work despite the pain, through their body telling them that it wasn't possible, they would fail. And few indeed were those who could ever work through their doubts and pain to get it right if they failed the first time.

Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, he felt himself change. Fur and feathers sprouted, his hands twisted into talons, his feet into paws. His mouth and nose hardened and extended into a beak. His vision sharpened. His back began to hurt and going with it, he dropped onto his talons as wings almost exploded from his back. Finally, he was done. Green eyes shone out of a mask of black feathers, his wings spread behind him and flapped as he tried to get used to the feel and use of them. He turned his head to look at his body, noting black feathers, fur, and a tufted tail.

"Well, that was surprisingly disturbing," he heard from in front of him. Draco walked up to Harry to look him over. It was the first time he was able to get a true scale of himself. He could look the other boy straight in the eye. Although Draco was not what one would consider tall, neither was he anywhere near as short as Harry. He realized the gryphon was actually bigger than his human body.

"Still a bit…" Draco's mouth kept moving but no sound came out of it. His eyebrows went up. "Huh, it works. Let's try it again. I am…" again, silence. "I actually thought that one was true. Dumbledore is a manipulative old fool." He smirked as that one came through loud and clear. "It works," he told the teacher who was watching. Then he turned back to Harry. "Move over, halfie, I want to try."

Harry considered seeing just how strong his beak was, but decided just this once to let it go. After all, he did wish to see what Draco's form would look like. Afterwards, however, he wanted to go fly over the lake so he could get a good look at himself.

He watched with interest as Draco went through a similar transformation. Instead of fur and feathers, he got silvery scales. Both hands and feet turned into claws as his body lengthened. A tail grew out at the same time the wings did. All in all, Draco was right; it was a disturbing sight to see. When it was done, he didn't look much like the dragons Harry had seen. Instead, Draco was long and sinuous, almost snakelike, except for the feet that clawed into the ground.

"Always have to be bigger, don't you?" Harry opened his mouth to ask, only to remember what he was as a squawk burst out of his throat. Oh, well, he'd get him later.

Severus walked over and surveyed the two boys. "Very well done," he admitted grudgingly. "Why don't you go for a fly to test your wings?"

Harry tilted his head to stare at the Potions professor. On the other side, he could see the drake doing the same thing. Then both settled farther down onto their haunches. They had come here as three, and they weren't budging until all three of them were transformed.

"Don't you wish to fly?" Severus asked as coaxingly as he knew how. If he could get them up into the air for a while, perhaps they wouldn't demand he tried flying himself. It wasn't that he was scared of heights; he just hated flying. 'Mmm-hmm, sure', a little voice inside niggled at him.

The two large magical beasts just stared at him. It was obvious that they were not going to move until there was a phoenix standing with them.

Unlike the two students, Severus did not bother to remove his robes before changing. Instead, his black robes seemed to melt into his wings. What seemed a long drawn out process for the two boys went by in a twinkling for Severus. Where the Potions professor had stood, there suddenly was a black bird. As he opened his wings, he also opened his mouth, and as his song rang out, the night grew darker until no light from the moon or stars could be seen.

Suddenly a burst of flame lit the surroundings and Harry knew it must have come from Draco. The next several minutes were a battle, the shadow phoenix's darkness against the drake's fire. Finally, however, Draco had to stop, unable to conjure up any more of the acid, that when heated created the fire. Darkness settled over the pitch once more. With a sound of triumph, the phoenix ended his song, and the normal light of a moon-filled night brightened the field once more.

Once they could see again, Harry and Draco took to the sky. Their styles were radically different. The gryphon was pure power, exploding from the ground using the springs of his rear, lion-like legs to leap into the sky. His wings tore through the air, beating forcefully to keep his large body aloft. The drake was smooth and supple, almost winding his way through the air, not seeming to need his wings at all except to glide. Harry was faster, while Draco could slither through the trees in a way that belied his large size. Severus stayed safely on the ground.

The black bird was, therefore, the only one to see the spectators in the stands. His warbling call warned the others even as he reluctantly leapt off the ground and all three mythical beasts surrounded the three watchers.

The three creatures landed around the three students. The students' complete lack of fear showed that they knew who the three were. Actually, that wasn't completely true, Harry noticed. One of the boys seemed to be slightly inching away from him, while the other was a little more obvious in moving away from Draco.

Knowing their secret was out, Severus transformed, his eagle eyed glare being the same in both forms.

"Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Zabini, Ms. Scarborough, perhaps you would care to explain yourselves?" He said in a dangerously soft voice.

Thyme was the first to speak up. "It was an accident sir, we were just going for a walk to look at the stars and showed up here."

Snape's gimlet gaze moved to Longbottom. "Is that true?" he said, expecting an affirmative. He could see that one showing up at the worst time in the worst place. He was very surprised at the boy's slow headshake.

"No?" Thyme was just as surprised.

"Well, that's why we came outside," Neville admitted. "I saw Harry heading this way, and figured he needed some time to himself, and wasn't going to follow him. But, well, then I saw Draco going in the same direction. And I know they're more like friends now, but I felt it wouldn't hurt to ... check up on them." Snape was very surprised to find the boy had managed to get through the whole thing without stuttering once.

He looked back at the Slytherin girl who was looking very surprised at that answer. "And you didn't see either of them, Ms. Scarborough?"

"No, sir," she admitted.

Severus decided to give the two Gryffindors another insight into the world of the Slytherins. "Ten points from your year for being unobservant," he announced. Thyme winced but nodded. She knew she deserved it.

He turned to the other Slytherin. "And you, Mr. Zabini?"

Blaise shrugged nonchalantly and spoke. Unfortunately, not a sound came out of his mouth. He looked surprised. "Five points from your year for trying to lie to me," Severus responded immediately. "I should take another five for not knowing that it's impossible to tell a lie in the presence of a gryphon."

Blaise sighed. "I was following Draco," he admitted. "He's been acting excited lately, though I doubt anyone else has noticed. I wanted to see what he was up to."

Severus turned to look at the drake who was looking slightly woebegone, his wings and head drooping slightly. "Twenty points from your year for being followed by three people, including a Gryffindor, without knowing it."

Draco's head drooped even more.

Harry transformed and saw Neville watching him with interest.

"Do you think..." Neville let it drop off.

Harry had no problem understanding what he wanted and frowned thoughtfully. "The only problem I have with it, is if Ron ever finds out you know and I didn't tell him, he's going to blow up."

"Not to mention, Ginny," Neville agreed.

Harry's brow furrowed. "What does Ginny have to do with anything?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, she *is* your girlfriend," Neville said, confused.

Draco transformed at that. "I thought you told me you didn't like her that way," he complained.

"I don't," Harry responded. He looked at Neville, "Where did you ever get that idea? She's Ron's *sister*."

Neville blinked. "But everyone knows that even if you're too busy to date right now, eventually you're going to date her."

"Well *everyone* is wrong," Harry disagreed. "Aside from the fact that I don't have time to date, there's no one I've met that I think of that way. In any case, it's definitely not Ginny and I seriously doubt it ever will be."

He looked over the three of them and made his decision. He might not know much about Blaise Zabini, but he did know that he was one of the few Slytherins Draco trusted, and in the end, that was enough. He Accio'd the book and handed it to Neville.

"'The Magical Musical Mysteries of Miles Mandolin'?" Neville read off, confused.

"Take out your wand," Harry ordered. Once he did that, he told him, "Now tap the book and say, 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good.'"

Neville did as ordered and they watched as the print changed. "Now tap it again, and say 'Mischief managed'." Again Neville did as ordered and they watched it go back. "It'll be easiest if you work with someone," Harry told him. "Although you'll be doing a lot of things in there by yourself, it's just easier if you know someone else is going through the exact same thing."

"I want to learn," Blaise spoke up. Thyme chimed in her agreement as well.

"Do you think I should ask Ron and Hermione?" Neville asked.

Harry considered that. Finally, he sighed. "I don't want them involved in what I'm doing, but I'll ask them. And don't worry," he said to Blaise, "I'll make sure Ron understands that he'll have to work with a Slytherin or two without argument if he wishes to learn this. However, I do not want him or Hermione to know that we've already learned it, or what our forms are, is that understood?"

"But why not? They're your best friends," Neville exclaimed.

"Yes, they are," Harry agreed. "And I'm not going to watch them get hurt again. They've got better things to worry about, like each other. Malfoy and Professor Snape can take care of themselves, but I will not risk Ron and Hermione. Or any of you." His warning was clear, learn what they could about Animagus transformation, but do not interfere or get involved with what Harry was doing.

"I expect a recounting of your forms from each of you the moment you know what they are," Snape commanded. "That includes Weasley's and Granger's if they join you." There was no way he was going to have children running around the castle in forms he didn't know. Aside from the prank value, it was simply too dangerous for all involved.

"Yes, sir," they agreed.

Once they left, Draco turned to look at Harry. "You know, they could be useful."

"I don't want them involved." Harry disagreed.

"Who says anything about them getting involved?" Draco asked. "All I'm saying is that you're right, our schedule is going to be awful, and they could help. It's not like they'd be really getting involved if they just helped to stir the potion. They could, at least be trusted to do that." On second thought… "Well, okay, perhaps not Longbottom or Weasley, but Blaise, Thyme and Granger could. As it is, we're each of us planning on adding an extra seven hours to our days using the time turners. If we can get them to split the daytime turns, and just did the nighttime ones ourselves, that would cut it down to just three hours a night that we'd each have to add to our days. If we don't, then by the time the potion is done, we're going to be worthless to do anything else."

"No," Harry disagreed vehemently. He then transformed and took off into the sky once more.

"Arg!" Draco practically yelled, "he can be such a self-sacrificing prat sometimes."

Severus chuckled. "Give him a few days on the schedule and he will be *begging* for the help," he told his student. "I believe it will be a bit much even for the Golden Boy."

Before Draco could respond to that, the gryphon landed once more. Harry transformed back into human form and glared at the two of them. "You know, for having a bird's head, gryphons have very good ears. I'm not going to change my mind, and don't call me Golden Boy!" Then he was gone once more.

The two Slytherins just laughed. Draco turned to look at his Head of House. "You know, you just proved you could fly; that means you don't get to avoid it. I would suggest you come up and fly with us, or I'm going to pick you up and drop you!" Draco laughed before transforming. The transformation was much easier now, though still something he had to think through completely. He knew that the more he did it, the easier it would get. He hovered over the stands, waiting.

Snape, however, refused to let him have the last laugh. He transformed, then with what would have been a smirk if he'd still been human, he called forth the shadows and vanished through them, back to his own quarters, leaving the drake looking down at an empty stand.

The gryphon made a sound that could be interpreted as laughter and came back down for a landing. The drake followed.

"You should have expected that," Harry laughed after changing.

"Yes, I should have," Draco agreed. "But he needs to practice flying. I know he doesn't like it, but it's important."

"And you think he doesn't know that?" Harry scoffed. "Chances are he'll practice after we go to bed or something like that."

Draco nodded his agreement. That probably was what The Surly One would do.

"So?" Harry asked, changing the subject.

Draco looked at him and raised a perfectly formed eyebrow. And he was supposed to know what that meant?

Harry rolled his eyes. "That 'Year point' stuff," he said impatiently. "I seriously doubt Professor Snape meant House points, since he never takes House points from Slytherin."

"Why should I tell you? You're not a Slytherin?" Draco smirked.

"Because if Professor Snape didn't want you to tell me, he wouldn't have said anything in front of me, now would he?" Harry smirked back.

"I thought he told you to call him Severus," Draco reminded him.

"Stop changing the subject," Harry griped lightly.

Draco laughed. "The Year point 'stuff' is exactly what you'd think. Just because Severus doesn't take House points from our House doesn't mean he lets us get away with anything. But Year points are way more important."

"Why?"

"What do House points get you? Your House colors in the Great Hall at the Leaving Feast and a plaque for a year. Whoop-de-do. Whichever year wins the Year points, everyone in that year will get individual rooms next year and access to the best bathrooms. The only points that matter for the Year competition are the ones Severus gives or takes. Unfortunately, one thing he takes points for is what he considers conduct unbecoming a Slytherin. Just as he awards them for behavior which best exemplifies our House."

"So you get points taken away for being unobservant," Harry said.

"Or getting caught," Draco added.

"That reminds me, why didn't we put up Notice-Me-Not spells before we started flying around?" Harry wondered.

"Do you honestly believe that Severus would have forgotten them?" Draco scoffed.

"If he put them up, it must have been on the castle, because I was here first, and there was no way I would have missed them being put up on the pitch," Harry disagreed.

"What good would it have done putting them on the pitch? We've been flying way above the pitch."

"Yeah," Harry admitted. "I hope you're right. By the way, tag, you're it." He clapped Draco on the shoulder before transforming and taking to the air once more.

What followed was one of the strangest games of tag ever seen, even at Hogwarts. Without even talking about it, they agreed on their rules. Since they needed to practice transformation as well as flying, the game took in both aspects. If they were in the air, they were of course, in their animagus forms. However, once even a claw or the tip of a tail touched the ground or stands, they were required to transform and stay in human form until tagged. They both agreed afterward that while it had been fun, it would have been even more fun with three people, which made them more determined to get Severus to join them the next time they played. They didn't quite know how they were going to manage it, but were sure that the two of them working together could make it happen.

The game finally came to an end as Draco winged above the gryphon and looked down at him. He would never be able to say what made him suddenly decide that the gryphon's back looked perfect for riding. Without thinking any more about it, he transformed in the air, and landed perfectly just in front of the gryphon's wings.

Harry was understandably startled and the gryphon's instincts took over. While Draco was still congratulating himself for a picture perfect landing, he suddenly had to grab on as Harry started to buck.

"Harry!" Draco shouted, trying to get his attention. "It's me! It's okay!"

The eagle head turned around and a bright green eye stared at him for a moment before the gryphon suddenly headed for the ground. Once he landed, he transformed back, dumping Draco on his arse. "What did you think you were doing?" Harry screamed in his face. "I could have bucked you off! Or you could have fallen! If I hadn't been so quick to realize who you were, I'd have attacked you with my beak, and you would have been *seriously* hurt!"

"I thought..." Draco began.

"You thought what? That you'd see if I was strong enough to take the weight of a fifteen year old dropped onto my back? What if I hadn't been? Did you think of that? What if you'd broken my back by doing that?"

"I wouldn't have broken your back!" Draco disagreed hotly.

"You don't know that!" Harry shouted back. "You had no idea how strong I was or how strong my bones were. I mean, I could almost understand if it had been me doing it. Gryffindor here, reckless and stupid is in my blood according to Snape. But you're supposed to be above such things! I should tell Snape about this! Your year would probably lose all of its points! Talk about behavior unbecoming a Slytherin! Even *Ron* would have had more sense!" He turned around and stalked off.

"Harry," Draco called after him.

"Don't! I am way too mad to talk to you right now! If I was the one who'd done something so completely careless, I'd have detention for the rest of the term, and a hundred foot essay to write, and you bloody well know it! I'll talk to you again when I can get over the fact that I almost killed you!"

Harry was still seething when he reached the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey mate, you're back early," Ron said when he noticed him. He and Hermione were curled up together on a couch in the corner by the fire. Harry flopped down on a chair nearby.

"He pissed me off," Harry muttered.

"Which he would that be?" Ron asked. "The great git or the princely prat?"

Harry laughed. "The prat," he admitted.

"He's a Slytherin, what do you expect?"

"If he had been acting like a Slytherin, I wouldn't be in here wanting to strangle him," Harry muttered. "Instead he was being stupid and reckless. There was no reason for that! He could have been killed!"

"And only *you* are allowed to act that irresponsibly, right?" Hermione muttered.

"Exactly," Harry answered before he thought. Then he closed his mouth with a snap and turned to glare at the bushy haired girl, but she had her head in a book and refused to meet his eyes. "Ron's really been a bad influence on you lately," he muttered.

"Well, if you're not here to distract him, you'll just have to live with it," she replied easily. She finally looked up. "Did I see Neville with that book Sirius sent you?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. He should have realized she would know any book by sight.

"You never did tell us what it was about."

"It took me a while to figure that out," Harry admitted. "Turns out it was like the Marauder's Map, and it was a manual on how to become an Animagus. Unfortunately, although the steps did look easy, they were also very time consuming. Time I don't have right now. When Neville asked if he could use it, I told him yes."

"Without letting us try first?" Ron hissed.

"Actually, I told him that if you two wanted to try, you could work with him on it. Sirius told me it worked a lot better if several people were working together on it at the same time. Thyme Scarborough and Blaise Zabini are going to work on it with Neville, so you're going to have to work with them," he warned Ron.

"You told two *Slytherins* before us? How could you?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I didn't tell them, they were there and overheard when I gave it to Neville," he answered. "If you don't want to learn, that's fine. You could have just said so."

"Of course I want to learn, but can't we do it first, by ourselves? After all, we're your best friends."

"Nope, that's not the issue. I've already given it to them; they've started." Harry disagreed. "You either do it now with them or you wait until they're finished." Harry smirked at Ron's disapproving expression.

"Becoming an Animagus is illegal unless you're planning on registering," Hermione said warningly.

"It'll be fine, but you will be required to tell Professor Snape what you become," Harry said. "You don't want to know what he'll make you do if he finds out you're running around in Animagus form *without* him knowing about it. He'll take care of the paperwork for you five."

"He agreed to that?" Hermione was shocked. Sure, Professor Snape seemed to be getting along better with Harry outside of class, but still...

"Not yet, but he will," Harry said airily. "Oh, Hermione, could you do me a favor?"

"What is it?" Hermione asked. She'd learned long before not to simply agree to requests like that.

"There seems to be a rumor going around that I'm interested in Ginny. Would you help quash that, please? I'm not interested in her that way."

"And what's wrong with my sister?"

"Just that, she's your sister. And since you're my brother that makes her my sister, too. It just feels *wrong*."

"I'll work on it," Hermione agreed.


	15. Chapter 15

I'm not sure what it is about Mondays. Maybe because I don't watch anything in particular on Sunday or Monday, I just forget what day it is. For those of you who are reading this, I'd dearly love some help. An author on this site, SnapeSnape is posting one of my unfinished stories, without my permission. He's changed the title to Willing Shadows, but it's actually called Darker Shades and is currently only to be found on my yahoogroup. I know people have been reporting him, but he's still posting. If you could help get him off this site, I would appreciate it.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry sat up with a scream that rebounded through the confines of his bed, but was muffled from going beyond by the permanent silencing spells he'd long ago put upon his bed curtains. His hand flew to his scar and he gritted his teeth as he fought the pain. He wasn't sure what exactly had angered the Dark Lord so much that he could feel it this clearly, but something obviously had. And what he had ordered *had* come through loud and clear.

As Harry had told Severus, most of the time when his scar hurt, there was nothing more than that. Sometimes however, he got very clear pictures, as if he were there. It all seemed to depend on how much emotion Voldemort was feeling at the time. This time he was angry, and that anger had allowed Harry to see practically the whole meeting. Happily, it allowed him to know that neither Severus nor Malfoy were the ones in trouble, but he also knew that there was no way Severus would be able to report back before the attack. Therefore, it was up to him to do something about it.

He desperately wanted to be out there, helping those who were going to be attacked, but whether Severus believed it or not, he did have some idea of his capabilities. Getting to a place that he neither knew the precise location of nor had ever been, in time to fight, was beyond him. Fighting that many Death Eaters was also beyond him. Alerting someone who could get help, however, wasn't.

He pushed himself out of bed and through the curtains, then had to grab the nearest bedpost as pain flared once more. The next bedpost within reach was Ron's, and the redhead woke grouchily as his bed was shaken. "What?" he started to growl before noticing that it was Harry, and the other boy was standing with one hand grasping his bedpost and the other pressed hard against his forehead.

"Are you okay, mate?" he asked, instantly worried. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I've got to get to Dumbledore," Harry said through gritted teeth.

"Hold on," Ron ordered, getting out of bed, grabbing his robe and donning his slippers. He went over to Harry and knelt down, carefully helping him into his own slippers, before grabbing him by the arm and helping him out the door.

Normally Harry would complain about not needing help, but right now getting there in one piece and as quickly as possible was more important, and the pain was making him dizzy.

"Is he okay?" Neville asked softly.

"I'll be fine," Harry tried to reassure him, but his voice was shaking a bit too much for it to be very convincing.

"It'll be okay," Ron answered as well, even as he led the way down the stairs.

"What did you see?" he asked, once they had passed through the portal that led to the Gryffindor dorms.

"He's ordered an attack on someplace called King Arthur's Rest. It sounds like it's some kind of subdivision with a lot of Muggleborn and half-and-half families. He wants them all dead." That was a worry as well. The only reason for that much death was if he wanted to pull in their magic. But what would he need so much magic for? What could he possibly be planning that would require that much strength?

They reached the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. Ron started calling out candy names hoping to run across the password. Harry just reached out and placed his hand on the head of the gargoyle. "My scar hurts," he said clearly. The gargoyle moved away, letting the two boys get on the moving staircase.

"When did that happen?" Ron asked.

"Earlier this year. It was decided it would be best if I could get in if there were a real emergency," Harry explained.

"I didn't know that," Ron muttered.

"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone," Harry responded. He looked at Ron and could easily imagine what he was thinking. "So I didn't tell anyone," he continued. "Not anyone at all."

Ron blushed slightly at being known so well, but looked happier. At least it wasn't something else that Malfoy knew before him.

They entered Dumbledore's office to find the Headmaster waiting for them. "Is something the matter?" he asked kindly.

"I had a vision," Harry told him straight out. "He's ordered an attack on a place called King Arthur's Rest."

"Do you know when it's supposed to happen?" Dumbledore asked, his twinkle fading.

"Now," Harry told him.

"Does your scar still hurt?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry nodded.

"He had trouble walking," Ron told the Headmaster.

"If you would take him to the hospital wing, Mr. Weasley, I would appreciate it. I will get the Aurors on it immediately."

"I don't need to see Madam Pomfrey," Harry disagreed. "I've got pain and sleep potions in the dorm."

"If you're sure," Dumbledore allowed.

Harry read it as the dismissal it was and headed out the door with Ron right behind him. They needed to get out of the way so Dumbledore could do what was required.

"Maybe we should go tell Seamus," Ron said thoughtfully.

"Seamus? What does he have to do with anything?" Harry asked in surprise. He could see telling Draco; after all, he was the one waiting up for Severus, but Seamus?

"I think his parents live there," Ron explained.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry closed his eyes in pain. "I hope I got to Dumbledore in time," he prayed. He didn't think he'd be able to look the other Gryffindor in the eye ever again if tonight's raid made him an orphan. He took a deep breath. "It won't do any good to tell him right now, there's nothing he could do except worry about it."

"Are you sure?"

"What could he do, Ron? Honestly, what good would it do to let him know?" Harry asked him seriously, then answered himself, "It would only make him mad with worry, and he'd be helpless to do anything about it."

Reluctantly, Ron agreed, and they headed back to the dorm together.

Harry willingly took the pain potion, but refused the sleep potion. Ron finally gave up on arguing with him, and reluctantly went back to bed himself. He might have been worried, and did not wish to leave Harry awake by himself, but he was tired enough that he fell back to sleep quickly.

Once sure that his friend was asleep, and that his own pain had receded to manageable levels, Harry got up and pulled the Invisibility cloak around him. He headed down to the Potions Master's rooms.

He knew Severus would not be particularly happy to find Harry waiting for him, but he didn't really care. He had to know what had happened and if his warning was in time.

It seemed like he sat for hours, simply staring into the fire. He considered finding a book to read but knew he wouldn't be able to concentrate. Instead he just sat and waited.

Finally, his waiting bore fruit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the shadows darken in a corner of the room. He turned to look, surprised when the first person he saw was blonde and aristocratic, not at all who he was expecting. His eyes just caught sight of a black bird before it changed into the wizard he had been awaiting.

"Professor, Malfoy," Harry said in welcome.

"My, my, Severus, a student in your rooms after curfew? I didn't know you had it in you," Lucius murmured with a small smile. He was instantly pinned by two irritated glares.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Potter seems to feel that rules still have nothing to do with him," Severus drawled.

Harry was done with the small talk. "How many died?" he asked.

"I'm assuming you are the reason the Aurors got there so quickly?" Severus asked.

"Me and Dumbledore," Harry agreed. "How many died?" he asked intently once more.

"Not very many," Severus informed him. "The Aurors arrived before much could be done."

"*How* *many*?" he practically growled.

"Far fewer than there would have been, Potter, but I don't know. Nor do I believe I would tell you if I did, because for some strange reason, you would blame yourself over it, even though the only thing you could possibly be blamed for is *saving* *all* of the others," Severus retorted.

"Do you at least know if the Finnegans are all right?"

"Mr. Finnegan's relatives?" Severus asked, surprised.

"His parents," Harry agreed. "They live there."

"I don't know," Severus admitted. "However, very few houses were attacked, so chances are good that they're okay."

"Mr. Potter," Lucius Malfoy spoke up for the first time since his initial comment. "Considering all I have heard of you from my son and your professor, I find it very interesting that neither told me of this streak of insanity you seem to be harboring."

Harry turned to look at him in confusion. "I'm not insane!"

"You are blaming yourself for a madman's actions. If that's not insanity, what would you call it?"

"I should have gotten to Dumbledore quicker," Harry insisted.

"How?" was the simple question.

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but what could he say? There really was no way he could have gotten there more quickly, but that didn't mean anything. He still should have been able to do something.

Severus smiled at his friend in thanks. He could tell by the mulish expression on Harry's face, that he didn't believe it, but the more he was told it, and from as many different people as possible, the more chance he would begin to be convinced.

"Get back to bed, Mr. Potter. There's nothing you can do now," Severus prodded.

Harry nodded and got up, heading for the door.

"Oh, and Harry," Severus stopped him. "Thank you."

Harry turned and stared at him in surprise. "For what?"

"If the Aurors hadn't come when they had, I would have been forced to do something I would have greatly regretted," Severus explained.

Harry looked at him for a long time, then for the first time this night he slowly smiled. It was small, but it was definitely there. "You're welcome, Severus." He turned and left.


	16. Chapter 16

Draco looked at Harry, who seemed to be engrossed in his book. Unsurprisingly. Lately anyway, he was typically found in the Library.

Draco took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said quietly as he settled across from his friend. "I really wasn't trying to hurt you."

Harry looked up and smirked. Without a word, he pulled out one of the books from a stack next to him, searched through it for a certain section and passed it over to Draco. "You're forgiven," he said.

Draco looked down, wondering. He began to read. 'Unlike their fiery cousins, the ice drakes of Antarctica do not use their cold breath to kill their prey. Thanks to their habitat in one of the coldest regions of the world, many of the animals that live there have a partial or complete immunity to the cold. Although the acid that makes up an ice drakes freezing breath can still kill those animals, it is much harder. To make up for this, the ice drakes have created a different way of taking down their prey. In a move more reminiscent of birds of prey than dragons, the ice drake uses the camouflage created by his pale blue and white underbelly against the daytime sky to float above the frozen tundra. Upon spotting their prey, often a polar bear or reindeer, they dive for the animal, placing all their weight upon their back and driving them to their knees as they go for the neck at the back of the head with their teeth. Often this move will break their prey's back, leaving them helpless even before the drake's teeth touch their skin.'

"So, I *was* trying to break your back," Draco mused.

"Keep reading," Harry ordered.

Draco skimmed over some more information on different hunting styles and typical prey before finding what Harry had set him looking for. 'Ice drakes, like fire drakes, tend to have between two and five kits at a time. The drake kits are able to fly by their third month, and use their ice breath by their fifth month. Like all young predators, they mock fight with each other, learning the maneuvers they will one day use upon their prey. It has been noticed that they often pounce upon their sibling's back with the same move that they will later use when capturing prey, but it is always done with both drakes in the air. It is believed that not having the ground underneath to slam them into, helps to keep these siblings from harming each other during mock attacks.'

"In other words, I was learning how to break your back," Draco said, humor now in his voice.

Harry laughed. Then he looked back at his books. "I'm just glad you transformed before hitting me. Young drakes might be able to withstand that, but I don't know how well a gryphon would do. The thing that worries me, is if your instincts caused you to react unintentionally like that, what instincts do I have of which I'm not aware?"

"You have a point," Draco became serious as well. He settled down and pulled over a couple of books Harry hadn't gotten to yet. Somehow, when they'd researched their forms, this was not the kind of thing they had worried about.

After a few moments, he spoke again. "What happened last night?"

"Didn't Professor Snape or your father tell you?"

"What does father have to do with anything?" Draco asked with surprise. "Was he there last night? And what does that have to do with the uproar at your table this morning?" He did know something had happened, the Daily Prophet had announced the capture of a number of 'alleged' Death Eaters the night before and the death of several muggleborn wizards.

"You didn't know? There was a meeting last night, and an attack. I was able to get to Dumbledore in time to get the Aurors sent there. I was a little surprised not to find you in Snape's room last night as I waited. Snape came through the shadows with your father. As for this morning, it turns out Seamus' parents live where the attack happened. Luckily, they weren't hurt."

Draco glared. "And you didn't think to tell me he was called?"

"I assumed he had told you," Harry replied. "Besides, I wasn't exactly in a condition to think about it."

Some of the anger faded from Draco's expression. "Do you at least know why he brought my father here?"

Harry shook his head. "Not a clue."

"Then I'll just have to ask him myself, won't I?" Draco drawled.

"Not now, you won't," Harry disagreed.

"And why not?" Draco glared.

"Because it's time for dinner," Harry pointed out.

After dinner, they found themselves back in the Potions classroom. "Why didn't you wake me when you were called?" Draco demanded.

Severus stared silently at the boy until Draco dropped his eyes. "I do not believe there is any reason why I would do so, nor do I know of any reason why you would expect it of me."

"Because we worry," Harry suggested.

"There is no need. I have been doing this for far longer than a pair of teenagers could ever comprehend."

"Just because you have never had anyone who cared before, doesn't make us worry any less," Draco complained.

"As I said, there is no need. I usually return well before breakfast, therefore it does you no good to know that I ever left. It would just make you worry unnecessarily."

They argued for a while longer, but neither boy could get the man to agree to tell them before he left. Looking at each other, they knew that if necessary, they would figure out a way to do it without his cooperation.

"So, what was Father doing here last night?" Draco asked after they gave up on the other conversation.

"The Aurors arriving took everyone by surprise and they got the Anti-Apparation wards up very quickly. I simply grabbed Lucius, transformed, and got us both out of there. My rooms were the first place I thought of. He left soon after Harry did."

"Do you know what made Tommy so angry last night? I wouldn't have known about the attack if he wasn't furious, but I never figured out what had made him so mad," Harry asked. "And what is he planning, that he would need so much power?"

Severus shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted. "It wasn't something that happened at the meeting; he was already angry when he called us. And yet he didn't seem particularly angry at any of us. At least, no one received more punishment than usual, beyond his bad tempered use of Crucio on anyone who breathed wrong. It didn't seem to be personal against anyone. As for the power... again, I don't know. Though I am fairly sure that it wasn't part of his 'grand plan'."

Harry leaned back and went over every part of the dream that he remembered, but still couldn't find anything that might help explain it.

"That's something I've been meaning to ask," Draco spoke up while Harry was thinking. "Why does this 'grand plan' of his require little kids to get the mark? I could understand if it was just those of us in school, after all, at least we've got some training, but the younger ones wouldn't be any use to him."

"Two things," Severus told him. "First, if the Dark Mark is placed upon a child below the age of reason, which I personally think should be eighteen, but for the purpose of the magic is considered to be four or so, the child will grow up as a virtual slave to the Dark Lord. His or her will, will be completely subjected through the Mark. Secondly, children have a surprisingly large amount of untapped magic, energy that a mage such as the Dark Lord can pull through the Mark if he needs the extra power."

"But..." Harry blurted. "Wouldn't that be bad for the kids?"

"Yes, Harry, it would be," Severus agreed solemnly.

"Don't their parents care?"

"Of course they do… if they fully understand what it means, which many probably don't. Still, they are too afraid not to do it."

"Well, if we get rid of him before then, they won't have to worry about it, will they?" Harry asked in a very determined voice.

Severus laid down his quill and stretched, grimacing at the crack that came from his spine and the burning where his neck met his shoulders. He hated having to spend his time grading the moronic excuses for essays that many of the students returned to him, but it was necessary. Even those students to whom he gave certain grades, regardless, he still needed to read and respond to guide their studies. Happy that he was finally done, he rose to his feet and headed toward his rooms. Automatically, he checked the Tell-tale he had placed upon Harry and nodded to himself, satisfied as he noticed it showed Harry was up in his dorm.

Then he drew himself to an abrupt stop. Once more he cast the spell to check on the tracer. He hadn't been hallucinating, there were in fact two dots showing. Obviously, Potter was up to something. More than likely, he had tried to place the tracer upon someone else in his dorm but had messed up and ended up with two instead of one. That idea, of course, made it quite clear which one was actually the Potter boy.

Annoyed, both because his appointment with his bed was now delayed and to think that Harry would even try to trick him like this, Severus strode out of the door and followed the tracer up to the Astronomy Tower.

He stopped abruptly as he heard the murmur of voices, still too far away to understand more than the fact that there was more than one person there. Perhaps Potter was using the Tower as it had been used for years beyond imagining? If so, he would quite enjoy scaring them both and taking points. He might *like* Harry now, but he certainly wasn't going to allow the boy to use that to get away with rule breaking.

A few steps farther on and he realized both voices were male. That was a bit of a surprise. He seemed to recall Harry having a crush on that Cho girl. Still, if Harry were heading in that direction, it wouldn't bother him. However, as he got ever closer, he realized that he recognized both voices. And while he might not be sure of Harry's preference, he was very sure of Draco's, having sat through enough stories of the boy's crushes. It seemed that whatever the two boys were here for, it was not the traditional use of the Tower, and he seriously doubted they were here to actually observe the stars.

Once close enough to hear words instead of voices, he stopped to listen. Luckily, he had absolutely no inhibitions regarding eavesdropping… occupational hazard, in more ways than one.

"Did I tell you I found out why Voldemort was so angry?" Harry asked.

"No, you didn't. But shouldn't you be telling Severus?" Draco replied.

"I will in the morning. Turns out, it's because Nagini is upset."

"Nagini?"

"That big snake of his. She's shedding her skin, it's making her kind of testy."

"Why would that make the Dark Lord angry?"

"I've been thinking about that." Severus could practically *hear* the boy's smirk. "Either they're connected in some way; I know Nagini had something to do with keeping him sort of alive for so long, or..." his voice trailed off temptingly.

"Or what?" Draco bit.

"Well, Nagini's a female and there is a rumor that his Animagus form is some kind of big snake..." Once again he let his voice trail off, this time to let Draco's own imagination work on it.

"You don't mean?" Draco's voice was a strange combination of hilarity and disgust. Severus found himself understanding that feeling completely. "Ick, that's just... how could you even think such a thing? Even worse, how could you make *me* think such a thing?"

"Hey, don't blame me for your sick fantasies," Harry disagreed.

"Why not, they're your fault!"

Severus walked into the room. "I quite agree with Draco. The thoughts in both of our heads are *entirely* your fault."

"Professor!" Harry yelped. "What are you doing here?"

"I believe it to be far more important to ascertain why *you* are here."

Harry ignored the implied question and turned a mild glare on the blonde. "I thought you said he wouldn't be checking any longer, since I've been good about it for so long," he muttered.

Draco just shrugged.

"Interesting." Severus mused. "In fact, you being good 'for so long' was a warning sign that something was going to happen soon. Draco should have known that. However, if you did not believe that I would check, why did you try to move the tracer?"

"I didn't," Harry smirked.

"I can distinctly see two tracers," Severus told him reprovingly.

"Then there must be two of me, right?" Harry answered, pulling out one of the time turners they were almost ready to begin to use.

"And you felt those were necessary, why?" Severus murmured.

"Just trying them out," Draco smirked. "Have to make sure they work correctly, don't we?"

"And what did you do while *trying them out*?"

"If we told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" Harry smiled. "By the way, we were with you three hours ago, weren't we?" Without waiting for an answer, he looked at Draco, who pulled out the other time-turner. "G'night Professor."

The two boys twisted the time turners four times each and disappeared from in front of him. Severus was caught in a quandary. He could either hunt them down, wake them up and demand to know what was going on, or he could go to bed, and find out later. That he *would* find out, he had no doubt whatsoever.

He finally decided to trust them at this point. If he didn't have answers by dinner the next night, they would not be given any choice about answering.

The next morning Severus strode into the Great Hall for breakfast. He had put the night before out of his head for the moment. That lasted only as long as it took for Pansy Parkinson to enter the room.

It took all of Severus' vaunted self-control to keep his mouth from twitching. It was obvious that others did not have that ability, as laughter raced loudly through the breakfasting students, and discrete snickers were heard even amongst the teachers who were present. Since Parkinson always preferred to make an entrance, that was most of the school.

"Miss Parkinson, come with me, please," he ordered, striding out of the room. The Slytherin girl followed him to a room off the corridor.

"Would you care to explain yourself, Pansy?" he asked, once assured that they were alone.

"What do you mean, Professor?" Pansy asked in surprise. Although the Slytherins were allowed to use his name, none of them would dare to do so outside of the dorms.

Severus transformed one of the nearby walls into a mirror. He expected to hear outraged shrieks as the girl noticed the dog ears on the side of her head, the red and gold coloring in her now unevenly curly hair, and the bright pink and fluorescent orange robes that even the Headmaster wouldn't wear. She just looked back at herself calmly.

"I don't understand, Professor, I look fine," she smoothed down her hair while smiling at herself in the mirror.

Any amusement the professor might have been harboring vanished upon that instant. What had those boys done? It was one thing to cast spells or give another student potions to cause such minor physical changes; a Slytherin should be alert enough to avoid such trickery, and deserved the results if they were so negligent, but messing with Pansy's mind so that she didn't even notice was something entirely different. Leaving her still primping in front of the mirror, he moved back to the entrance into the Great Hall. A single eye contact was all it took to have his apprentice follow him out. He did stop to notice Crabbe and Goyle snogging at the table, and McGonagall heading over, obviously ready to take points. He silently led the way back to the room where Pansy was still preening.

"Well?" he barked out.

"What?" Draco asked, innocence shining from his face. "I didn't do it!"

"Do what, Drakie?" Pansy cooed. She looked at him in the mirror and frowned. "What have you done to your hair?"

Severus hadn't noticed, but Draco's hair was currently gelled up in spikes instead of smoothed flat against his head as it usually was.

"You don't like it?"

"It doesn't suit you at all," Pansy argued. "Change it back at once."

"You know, she's a bit of a narcissist," Draco told him, turning to leave.

Severus let him go, his words suddenly sparking an idea of what had been done to Pansy. He sighed in relief. There was nothing Dark about the potion Draco had used. It wasn't one that Severus had ever created, and certainly not one he'd ever taught, finding it far too frivolous for his taste. Love's Pure Sight allowed the one who drank it to see the one they loved as perfect in all ways. At least physically. Since it only worked on one who was already in love, not forcing love or anything of the sort, it had never even come close to being banned. It was usually used by teenagers who wished to know if they were truly in love. They would take it and then try to find something not perfect in the one that they loved. Pansy, it seemed, was in love with no one but herself, and thus could only see herself as perfect.

He tried to take down the spells that changed her appearance, only to find that they were set so that only she could take them off, something she wouldn't be able to do as long as she didn't know they were on. And the potion would work for twenty-four hours. Considering what Harry had said the night before, it would last until about nine o'clock that night, which would, of course, give both boys an alibi.

Remembering Draco's two bodyguards kissing as he left, something he was positive had *not* been happening before, he wondered just what else the two boys had been up to. If this was any indication, his blood pressure was going to be hitting the roof... from trying to refrain from laughing.


	17. Chapter 17

Another Monday, another chapter! For those of you wondering, officially there are 35 chapters to this story and we are on chapter 25. So the end is getting closer! I like this chapter, so decided to leave it just as it is.

The characters belong to JKR, the betaing to Xikum, the story to me! (just like the other two stories that are still being plagarized on this site even though they've been reported lots of times, ah well)

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry stood in front of a room at the Three Broomsticks. This time he didn't hesitate to enter. However, he rethought that idea when he realized Lucius Malfoy was the only one in the room. He refused to look like a coward in front of the older man by leaving immediately, no matter how much his instincts were screaming at him to flee. Instead, Harry nodded politely to the dark wizard, greeting him, "Malfoy," then heading to a chair across the table.

"Pot... What are you wearing?" Lucius' greeting was sidetracked as he caught a glimpse of Harry's shirt showing through his casually open robe.

Harry laughed as he looked down at his shirt. "Do you like it?" Who would have thought that letting his theory about Voldemort out to other Gryffindors could have caused *this*. The 'snake-lover animated t-shirts' the twins had come up with were currently all the rage among the upper level boys. There were rumours that with a certain wand movement, the shirts would turn pornographic instead of just having the red-eyed man in the black robe hugging and kissing the large snake. It hadn't been proven yet however, though many had tried.

"It's certainly unusual," was all Lucius would answer. He nodded to another part of Harry's anatomy. "Is that really necessary?"

Harry didn't bother to look down this time. He knew exactly what Lucius was asking about. It didn't mean that he was going to put down the wand he was holding against his thigh, thus concealed by his robe from most casual observers. He continued pointing it straight at the other man. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, constant vigilance is important, don't you agree?"

"I thought you trusted me?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Harry asked in surprise. "I trust you to a point; when it comes to your family and friends. But with myself? I'm not naive enough to believe that I fall into either of those categories."

"I am helping you get rid of that monster."

"For your own reasons," Harry countered. "I'd be a lot closer to trusting you if you were doing it because it was 'the right thing to do' and not simply, currently 'the right thing for you.'"

"Gryffindors," Lucius shook his head, his tone the exact same one Severus had used with that word hundreds of times before. "Don't you know that a man's self-interest is the most powerful motive there is? Anyone who claims they are doing something for the greater good, or because it's 'the right thing to do' is lying, either to the world, or to themselves. *Everyone* is motivated by self-interest, and it is the only motive that is guaranteed to never change."

"But, how am I to know if your self-interest will stay the same? You've already switched sides once. What's to stop something from happening that will give you the idea that giving me to Voldemort, and thus solidifying your own place by his side, would be better for you than helping me defeat him?"

"Do you believe that even if my place by his side were, as you say, solidified, it would make him any less dangerous for me to be around? Or any safer for my son? Draco has made his choice; do *you* believe *he* will change his mind?"

"I believe he loves you enough, that if it were really necessary, he might try."

"And you do not believe me to have that same feeling toward him?"

"You've had more time to get over it," Harry argued.

"Family is not something you 'get over'."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't know, would I?" Harry snapped back.

"And is that my fault?"

"I don't know," Harry answered, his eyes narrowed and intent. "Is it?"

"What would give you that idea?"

"I notice you're not answering the question."

"I would think that was something you'd be asking Severus," Lucius murmured.

"What does Snape have to do with it?" Harry answered. "I know where he was *that* night."

"Did you know he was in love with Lily Evans? That they dated for almost two years? That James was incredibly jealous until he finally managed to steal her away from him? And that's *why* Severus hated him so much?"

"Why are you telling me this?" Harry bit out. "Are you assuming I'd believe you?" The thing was, he did believe the man. He remembered what Severus had said once about Sirius, 'A dog is a good form for him, loyal to his master. I had something James wanted; Sirius tried to kill me so his friend could have it.' He had wondered at the time what Severus could have that his father had wanted so intensely. Now he knew.

"Just wondering why you trust him, but won't extend that same courtesy to myself."

"Maybe because I haven't any *reason* to have that faith to you!" Harry argued back, starting to get a little vehement.

"So what reason would you accept?" Lucius asked.

"I'll tell you when I figure it out." Harry informed him. "But I'll tell you what *won't* make me trust you, trying to get me to distrust those whom I care about."

Lucius sat back, admitting, although only to himself, that he might have chosen the wrong way of going about getting underneath Harry's skin. He'd certainly managed to do so, but not in the way that he wanted. He was considering a way to redirect the tone of the conversation more to his favour, when the door suddenly opened.

"I'm telling you, Moony, I smell Harry in there," the boy heard a familiar voice say.

Sirius Black stepped through the doorway, ready to greet his godson, when his eyes caught the blonde man in the chair across from the door. "Malfoy!" he growled, going for his wand. However, it was a bit hard to get to when he suddenly had an armful of teenager.

"Sirius! What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he hugged his godfather as hard as he could. He freed a hand to reach over and grasp Remus' arm. "Professor Lupin, it's good to see you again." Lucius was the only one to notice that the boy had just conveniently grabbed Lupin's wand arm while keeping Black from reaching his own wand. He was... protecting him? After what he had just said?

"Harry! Are you okay? Why are you in here with him? Has he done something to you?" Sirius' questions were panicked, but he was still being held tightly. There was nothing wrong with Harry's strength; that was for sure.

"I'm fine, and we're working on something that I'm not going to talk about with the door open," Harry argued.

"You think we're leaving you in here with him? He's a Slytherin! Even worse, he's a Malfoy!"

"And is there a reason you are announcing that to the whole inn?" Severus Snape's well-known drawl interrupted.

"Snape! I should have known you had something to do with this!" Sirius growled. "You two are probably trying to kidnap Harry to give to your dark master! Well it'll happen over my dead body!"

"I quite like that idea," Severus said, looking him over with a feral gleam in his eye.

Harry was the one to growl now. "You're not helping, Severus!"

That was quite enough for an enraged Animagus. One teenager's strength, no matter how well honed by quidditch, was not enough to hold Sirius any longer. He broke free of Harry's restraining arms and lunged for the Potion Master.

"Stupify!" came, not from either of the two ex-Death Eaters, or the blonde boy hiding behind his Head of House, but rather from the black-haired boy who had just been pushed aside.

"Um... Harry?" Remus Lupin asked quietly. "Did you just hex your godfather?"

"Of course I did; he was attacking Professor Snape," Harry answered testily.

"Why didn't you hex Professor Snape?"

"Because he wasn't attacking Sirius," Harry answered in a 'that was obvious' tone of voice.

"Are you going to leave him like that?" Remus asked.

"Of course not. As soon as he calms down, I'll let him go."

"Actually, I quite prefer him like this," Severus smirked.

"Of course you do," Harry rolled his eyes.

Harry took the stunning charm off of his godfather, but it didn't seem as if the wizard's temper had cooled much at all. He did, however, refrain from physically attacking the other man.

"What's going on, Harry?" Sirius practically roared. "Why are you in a room with Malicious Malfoy and Slimy, Snivelling Snape?"

"You would think that in the past 15 years, you would have come up with some new insults," Snape sneered. "Instead, you are still using the same tired old ones you were using when you were eleven."

"You're *really* not helping, Severus," Harry groaned.

"And why are you calling him by his name? What has he been doing to you?" Sirius practically shouted.

"Because Harry's an honorary Slytherin, and as such has the right to call his Head of House by his name," Draco explained with a smirk.

"You're not helping either," Harry glared. "And if the two of you don't stop it, I'm going to be pulling off some scales, not to mention some feathers."

"As if you could," Draco sneered. "It wouldn't be my tail that would be pulled, I can promise you that. You know I can fly wings around you in form."

"Harry?" Sirius' voice was almost awed. "You managed it? You've become an Animagus?" He moved forward and gathered the boy into a hug. "Your father would be so proud. *I* am so proud."

If Severus felt jealousy at the way Harry seemed to melt into Sirius' hug when he heard those words, he hid it well.

Harry pulled away slowly and turned to look at the elder Malfoy. "You want to know what you can do to get me to trust you?" he asked intently. "I want Sirius freed. Preferably with Pettigrew caught and consigned to the Kiss, but either way, I want Sirius cleared of all charges, and with his life back."


	18. Chapter 18

Welcome back! For those of you that have read this story before, there's a little bit that got added. Several reviewers were kind enough to point out that Sirius really shouldn't have been running around in his human form in the middle of the Three Broomsticks, so I needed to add a bit to get him chewed out over it ^_^.

Enjoy!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Sirius' shock allowed Harry to make some decisions. He grabbed his godfather's hand and started leading him out of the room, with Remus following bemusedly. "I'm going to talk to Siri and Professor Lupin," he called back to the other three.

Harry didn't let go of his godfather's hand until they were in another room. Of course, they hadn't paid for the room, so they shouldn't actually be in there, but if the owner just had simple locks that could be taken care of by an "Alohamora", that was her problem. This was an emergency.

Once they were alone and privacy wards were up, Harry dropped Sirius' hand and turned to glare at him. "What in Merlin's name did you think you were doing?" he raved.

"Me! You were the one consorting with the enemy!" Sirius snarled back.

"And you were the one who turned into a human in the middle of one of the busiest places in Hogsmeade! How could you take that risk? What if someone saw you?"

"Nobody saw me, Harry! I checked the hallway to make sure there wasn't anyone around before I changed!" Sirius tried to explain.

"And what about the person that was in the room with me? What about the people that entered the room after you came in? You came barging into a room without knowing who was in there, and then couldn't even be bothered to ward the door after you! And what about Rita? You know she's a beetle animagus! What if she'd been hiding nearby? You could have gotten yourself killed or captured because you didn't think!" Harry was breathing hard by the time he finished ranting.

"Me? I'm not the one who was alone in a room with Lucius Malfoy! What did you think you were doing? How could you give him something to hold over you like that?"

Harry blinked, calming down in his confusion. "Hold over me?"

"He'll do it just to gain your trust! Then he'll be able to take you to his Master without you ever suspecting!"

"No, he won't. He doesn't want to work for Voldemort anymore. And yes, we got that under truth potion."

"And who gave you that truth potion? Snape? You can't trust him, either! Those Slytherins are working together. If he really wants to turn against his Dark Lord, Lucius should have gone to Dumbledore! Instead, he went to a fifteen year old boy."

"Actually, we went to him," Harry told him. "He went out of his way to make sure Draco didn't take the Dark Mark."

"It's a trick."

"No, Sirius, it isn't," Harry disagreed, getting annoyed.

"You can't trust Slytherins, especially not Snape or any Malfoy," Sirius tried to explain. "They're evil, just like their families have been for generations."

"Some people would say the same thing about any Black," Harry shot back. The fact that Draco and his godfather were cousins had been a great surprise, but he wasn't above using it. "And Pettigrew was a Gryffindor."

"Regardless," Sirius barked, refusing to be sidetracked, "I don't want you having anything more to do with those people."

"You can't tell me who my friends are!" Harry was beyond annoyed.

"They're not your friends! It's all some plot, and I won't have you being taken advantage by them!"

"It is not some plot!" Harry started to yell back. Then he took a deep breath and calmed down. Months of arguing with two stubborn Slytherins gave him more weapons than simply out-yelling his opponent. "I'll make you a deal. I'll stay away from them if you can do three things." At Sirius' nod, he continued. "If you can prove that every Slytherin has gone bad, every wizard who's gone bad is a Slytherin, and every member of the major Dark families has been evil. And if you can't, you'll stop being a git about this. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Sirius replied immediately.

Remus groaned and lowered his head into his hands even as Harry gave off a wicked grin.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Did you even *listen* to his terms?" Remus asked in a long-suffering tone. "Less than two minutes ago he reminded you about Peter, and that you are a Black."

Harry laughed as he watched realization dawn on Sirius' face. He really hadn't been sure that would work, it had been way too simple, but he'd lucked out and it had worked just fine. "Now you can't bother me about being friends with them," he reminded his godfather.

Sirius was the one becoming angry now. "I told you they were a bad influence on you, teaching you to cheat. Typical Slytherin trickery."

Harry's eyes grew cold and all humor fled. "That's enough. You not paying attention to what I say to you has absolutely nothing to do with them. Nor is what I've done, cheating. If you'd simply *listened* to me, then you never would have agreed. However, you did agree, and I'm holding you to your word, so I don't want to hear you say another thing against them." He took a deep breath, and muttered in an aside, "Merlin, you and Severus are so much alike sometimes it's scary."

"What?" Sirius roared. "I'm nothing like that slimy…"

Harry interrupted. "If you say Slytherin I am *so* going to hex you!"

"I was about to say Death Eater," Sirius shot back. "I'm nothing like him!"

"Oh, come on, you're *exactly* like him," Harry disagreed. "You both are prejudiced, outspoken, stubborn to a fault and can hold a grudge way, way, *way* past the time any normal person would have given it up. He thinks as little of Gryffindors as you do of Slytherins, and, believe it or not, you both have some valid points. You've both lived through Hells neither of you deserve. Most importantly, you're both people I care about."

"How could you care for such a… git?" Sirius obviously used a different word than he was originally intending, but was trying to draw Harry to consider his argument.

"Because you're my godfather," Harry answered, knowing that was not what Sirius had been asking, but unable to resist.

Sirius glared. "Oh, that's funny."

"I thought so." Harry's humor died once again at the look on his godfather's face. "Look," he said, blowing air out in a gusty sigh. "I'm not stupid. I don't expect you and Severus to become best friends and bosom buddies. I don't think you'll become chummy over how much trouble I get into, or the times I manage to pull off some stunt without getting caught. I don't even expect you to be civil to one another! I do, however, expect you both to refrain from insulting each other in my presence. And if I find you've attacked him because of some misguided attempt to keep him away from me, I'm going to be *seriously* ticked off! And, you will regret that. Do you understand?"

Whatever response he was expecting, it was not the gob-smacked expressions on their faces. "What?"

"You sounded just like your mother then," Remus replied. "She said that to us once, very close to word for word."

"And what did she do when she found out about that *prank* you played on Severus?"

He watched with interest as they blanched. He really did need to know more about his mother if she could cause this kind of reaction. "Well, keep that in mind." He told them both. "What I do will be worse."

Sirius suddenly laughed out loud, moving forward and gathering Harry into a hug. "You are so much like your parents," he told him. Only Remus had noticed the way Harry flinched as Sirius went toward him, and his stiffness within the hug before he caught himself and hugged back. Nor could he keep his sensitive nose from smelling the sudden wash of fear that came before the boy relaxed once more.

Sirius finally let go and stepped back. "So, are you going to show us your Animagus form?" he asked eagerly.

Harry laughed. "Not in here, the room's a little too small."

"Oh, really," Sirius said, his interest piqued even more.

Although Remus also wanted to know what Harry's form was, what he'd just seen and smelled was taking up a bit more of his attention. "Harry," he said as sharply as he could, at the same time making a quick move in the boy's direction, raising his hand. The response he received was the one he least wanted, but most feared. Harry jerked backwards, his face paling as his hands came up as if to protect himself. Then his demeanor changed; no longer a scared boy, he was suddenly a young warrior, wand in hand and eyes locked on the werewolf.

A snarling werewolf met his gaze. "Who did it? Who hurt you? Snape?"

Harry glared right back. "Severus has never hurt me, nor would he!" he snapped back without considering what he was giving away. Of course, it was obvious that Remus already believed something had been confirmed.

"Then who? Surely not the Dursleys, Dumbledore..."

"Dumbledore what?" Harry interrupted. "Dumbledore would have known? Of course he did. He would have done something about it? Don't be stupid, why would he do that?"

"Harry, Dumbledore cares for you; you know that," Sirius answered, his expression still confused. "Snape did something to make you think he doesn't, didn't he?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "The only thing Severus and Draco did was spend a week brewing up healing potions, bruise salves, strengthening and nutritional potions and scar reducers. Dumbledore, on the other hand, sent me back to the Dursleys every year, despite my pleas not to return."

"There must be a mistake somewhere," Sirius said.

Harry's eyes were cold. Of all the things he'd expected, for his godfather not to believe him was not one of them. He shrugged out of his robe and pulled off his t-shirt, turning around to show a scar that bisected his back just below his shoulder blades.

"How did that happen?" Sirius growled.

Harry walked over to the window, leaving his scarred back in their sights. "Dudley had gotten into the knife drawer and almost cut himself. Vernon pulled out a knife and sliced my back to show him what could happen if he wasn't careful. There was an awful lot of blood. I should know; I'm the one that had to clean it up." Harry's voice was emotionless as he recited the facts. "Oh, and let's not forget the beating I received for allowing him to get into that drawer in the first place."

"How old were you?" Remus asked softly.

Harry shrugged, turning back around. "I don't quite remember. Probably five or six. You find this shocking? You should have seen my back *before* the scar reducers. And every one had its own story."

Sirius snarled low in his throat. "I... will... kill... them," was forced out.

"You will do no such thing," Harry replied fiercely. He left the window and grabbed his shirt and robe, donning them. "The only thing you are going to do is leave Severus and the Dursleys alone."

"But Harry."

"No 'but Harry'," Harry glared. "I need you! You are not going to go back into Azkaban because you felt the sudden need to take revenge for everything bad that's happened in my life! I don't want to lose you. That time in my life is over! It's done with, and if Malfoy does as I've asked, then I'll never have to go back. Assuming, of course, you stay free until Pettigrew is caught!"

"I could take care of them without being caught," Sirius responded, but Harry smiled. He could tell he'd won. Sirius wasn't going to go do something stupid, and Remus would stay with him as well. He might have had to tell more than he'd wanted to, but he'd gotten the response he needed.

"Come on," he offered. "Let's find someplace where I can change."


	19. Chapter 19

A short one today. I would have done a double chapter, but it didn't really go with this one. I hope you enjoy!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry stared out the window of the Astronomy Tower. He knew he should be getting some sleep, but the day had been too thought provoking. First came the conversation with Lucius, followed by Sirius and Remus, and while they had taken things better than expected, he had the feeling they weren't going to be nearly so accepting once over the shock.

"Mr. Potter, if you are so desirous of my company, there are better ways of acquiring it," Snape's voice came smoothly from the darkness.

"But this one works so well," Harry answered, smirking back. He was unsurprised by the sudden visitation, since he had actually been waiting for the teacher.

"And what is it that is so important as to pull me from my bed?"

"As if you'd be asleep at this time of night anyway," Harry scoffed. He took a deep breath. "Were you really in love with my mother?"

Snape reared back. "How?" Then he snarled as the answer came to him. "Black."

"No," Harry's voice cut through his anger. "Malfoy." He watched carefully, barely able to see the blanking of Snape's face in the moonlight through the open window. "I take it by your reaction that it was true, she was your girlfriend."

Snape's headshake was practically unnoticeable in the shadows, but the ice in his voice was very evident. "Not my girlfriend, Mr. Potter. My fiancé."

"Fian..." Harry gulped. "But what happened? It wasn't the attack, was it?"

"As if that moronic group could do any such thing," Snape snarled. "The only thing that did was drive Lily away from them for a time; not at all the reaction they were expecting, I'm sure."

"Good for her," Harry responded. "But, why did you break up?"

Severus sighed. "Family pressure," he admitted. "I come from a very old pureblood family, and she simply wasn't acceptable to them. I held out as long as I could, but when my father informed me he would immediately have her killed if I did marry her, whether I had been disowned or not, I folded to the pressure."

"Would he have?" Harry asked, shocked.

"He was a consummate hand with potions, especially those of the most dangerous varieties."

"That's a yes," Harry said bleakly. What kind of father would not only demand that his son break up with his girlfriend, but threaten her life? And what had Severus' life been like, that he so easily believed the threat? "So... if you loved her, but broke up with her to save her… Why did you hate me so much?"

"I never *hated* you," Severus disagreed. It was a statement he'd made before but he knew that sometimes Harry still wondered. "I simply disliked you a great deal."

Harry chuckled.

Severus finally came totally out of the shadows and sat next to Harry on the wide window ledge. "Yes," he admitted. "You were Lily's son, but you weren't mine. And you should have been. I loved her far more than James ever could. We both wanted a family that would love us no matter what and talked about the children we were going to have. It was bad enough that she moved on, although I wanted her to be happy, but that it was Potter was a blow. Then you were born. Lily was always one to plan our future out: when we would be married, the birth of our first child, even the sex, description and name."

"I'm close, aren't I?" Harry said in quiet understanding.

"Very much so," Severus agreed. "Black hair, green eyes, born around Midsummer... You should have been mine, not his."

Harry laughed brokenly. "There's one thing I never thought I'd hear, that you'd dislike me for not being your son." He suddenly looked thoughtful. "I'm not, am I? I mean, you broke up before I could possibly have been conceived, right? And you didn't get back together once 'for old times sake' or anything, right?"

"No," Snape said slowly. "Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking, what if I've been under a Glamoure this whole time? I mean, everyone always said I'm an exact copy of my dad except for my eyes, and that's kind of strange, isn't it?"

"Do you have any idea how complicated something like that would be? Assuming it were even possible? A Glamoure on a baby would be fairly simple, but one that grows as a child grows... Especially a young mage, you would have drained the magic out of it long before. As for looking like your father... I would not say you are an *exact* copy of Potter. The obvious things, yes; the hair, the nose, the glasses... but your mouth is your mother's and your skin... while I will confess I'm not sure where you got your cheekbones."

Harry smiled brilliantly, delighted at the thoughtful comparison. He hadn't seriously thought Severus could have been his real father, but thinking it had given him a bubbly feeling in his stomach.

"You know, everyone always tells me how like my father I am, I'm glad to know I've got some of my mother in me."

"You do," Severus agreed, "and more than just your look. It was obvious once I got through the arrogance and privileged upbringing I thought you had, and the foolhardiness and rule breaking mentality you actually had. Your willingness to stand up for what's right, to see beyond what you've been told and to help others regardless of House, year, or major dislike, those were like her. Lily never found a person she couldn't say something nice about... except her sister's boyfriend."

"Can't blame her there," Harry interjected.

"Indeed," Severus looked at him thoughtfully. "I'm not sure if you have her temper; the outbursts at the beginning of this year are the first indication I've had of such. Then again, you are not a redhead. I also don't believe I've ever before seen you get mad on your own account, only for your friends or those smaller than you."

"What good does it do to get angry?" Harry asked softly. "All it does is make things worse." He forced a grin, "and occasionally leads to the blowing up of over-bearing aunts."

Severus smirked slightly, having heard that story. He also understood what Harry meant. Blowing up at Dursley *would* have done more harm than good unless Harry's magic had turned him into something more suitable to his nature. Then again, that was a bit advanced for the unchannelled magic of a child. Of course, so was turning his aunt into a balloon. But once again, she hadn't insulted Harry, but others important to him.

"What else was she like? Did she like quidditch or Potions?"

"She did not dislike Potions, although it was not her favorite class. That was Charms, and she was top of the class, Flitwick's favorite student. As for quidditch, she would watch, but was not a big fan. She preferred to fly recreationally; she did enjoy that. She was proud of her good grades and studied hard, but unlike Ms. Granger, did not allow it to take over her life."

"It sounds like she was perfect," Harry said softly.

"In my eyes, she was," Severus admitted, "though I might be slightly prejudiced."

Harry laughed. "You? Prejudiced? Never!"

Severus smirked good humouredly back. "It is possible your dog father or his pet wolf would give you a more balanced picture."

Harry rolled his eyes. "What have I told you about insulting them?"

Severus raised his eyebrow. "Do you truly think you can enforce that?"

"Do you really want me to try?" Harry bantered back.

Severus just chuckled. "Go to bed, brat, you need your rest." He allowed himself to ruffle the boy's hair before shooing him off once more. Once left alone, he looked out the window, remembering a vivacious redheaded girl and the life they should have had.


	20. Chapter 20

Another Thursday, another chapter ^_^. Hope you enjoy!

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

A small alarm sounded.

Harry got up from the chair he was sitting in and picked up a spoon. At a second tone he dipped the spoon into the potion, stirred it one time clockwise, followed by a figure eight and a full stir counter-clockwise. He then removed the stirring implement from the potion, tapped it three times on the edge of the cauldron to shake off any excess, and placed it into the nearby sterilization solution. The entire routine took exactly fifteen seconds and it was only about half a minute from the time he stood up until he was seated once more.

He sighed as he rested the side of his head on his clenched fist. He had things he could be doing, things he should be doing, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was tired; a bone deep, too exhausted to sleep tired. When they had made up the schedules, they had made sure that they would get as much sleep as they always did. But somehow they didn't take into consideration the facts that not only were their days six hours longer, but also, repeated use of a time-turner took a toll on the body.

He was snappish, ill-tempered, and currently not talking to Draco. He'd prefer not to talk to Snape either, but unfortunately the professor was in an even worse mood than either of the two boys. Detentions were being handed out like candy at Halloween, and the absolute last thing Harry wanted was the extra work that he'd be sure to get at the first sign of disrespect.

To make his already 'grand' life even better, just a few hours ago he'd been called up to see Dumbledore! That had been an interesting conversation... not!

Well, okay, it hadn't gone *too* badly.

~*Flashback*~

After standing around for five minutes trying to guess the password, Harry finally was admitted, and mounted the moving staircase to the office. Personally, he thought there was no password on the gargoyle, or at least, not one that was the name of a candy. His opinion was that Dumbledore had a way to watch the door and would open it when he chose; he just liked the power trip, that he could make people waste their time guessing.

"Ah, Harry, my dear boy," Dumbledore said jovially. "Do have a seat. Lemon drop?"

"No, thank you," Harry said, in as polite a tone as he could manage for the mood he was in.

"How is everything going for you?' the Headmaster asked with obvious concern.

Harry shrugged. "Everything's fine," he informed him.

"You've been spending a great deal of time in the dungeons lately. I hope Professor Snape isn't working you too hard."

"Snape's being Snape," Harry shrugged again.

"Professor Snape, Harry," Dumbledore said reprovingly.

"Yes, sir," Harry muttered. "Lately he's been in an even worse mood than usual."

"You seem to be having a bit of trouble with attitude of late, yourself. In fact, I believe you got into a row with Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy just this morning."

"They were both being utter prats," Harry said unashamedly. "They delight at getting in each other's faces and I'm tired of being stuck in the middle."

"So you made them get a little closer?" Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling madly.

Harry grinned back for the first time in a while. "I figured they were suppressing. After all, why would they be getting in each other's faces *that*much unless they wanted to kiss?"

"Considering how fast they rushed off to the nearest bathroom to wash their mouths out, I would say you might have been a trifle incorrect."

Harry dutifully looked sad. "Especially as they made sure to rush off to separate bathrooms." He chuckled as he remembered the looks on their faces as they had kissed, with tongue, no less. He hadn't been aware it was possible to look *that* revolted while kissing.

"I don't believe that particular hex is part of the curriculum," Dumbledore commented. "Did Professor Snape teach it to you?"

Harry's eyes opened wide. "Snape? Teach me anything on purpose? Much less something as utterly worthless and frivolous as a *kissing* hex?"

"It does seem unlike him," Dumbledore admitted.

"I'd say," Harry agreed. "Actually, I got the idea from Sirius last time I complained about them," he remarked truthfully.

"That boy always did have a good sense of the absurd," Dumbledore said fondly. "Did he ever tell you of the time they changed the words of the song at the opening feast to some muggle song? YACE I believe."

Harry blinked and thought for a moment before he started laughing. "Do you mean, YMCA?"

"Perhaps that was it," Dumbledore agreed.

Harry laughed some more. "Did they get people to do the movements, too?"

"Is that what they were doing? A sort of dance that is done with the song? I had wondered."

Harry practically fell out of his seat, laughing. A vision of hundreds of students in black robes trying to spell out YMCA was simply too hilarious to contain, especially when he suddenly imagined the teachers dressed as the Village People. Then he took another look and blanched as all the humor fled. He really needed to control his imagination. That picture was just *too*... too... ugh.

Once Dumbledore noticed that Harry had himself under control again, he brought the conversation back to one of the topics that was the meeting's intended purpose. "I notice that you've been spending a lot of time in the dungeons lately. Should I have another talk with Professor Snape?"

Harry shook his head. "I can handle it. Besides, by the time he's through with me, I'm usually so tired I can get to sleep without help. Madam Pomfrey won't give me any more sleeping potions. On the days I don't have detention, I usually can't sleep, so I wander the halls, he finds me, and I get more detentions. It's a never-ending cycle."

Dumbledore frowned thoughtfully. "So you get detention on purpose?"

Harry nods. "Most of them anyway. And well… do you promise not to tell?"

"That depends on what it is," was all Dumbledore would agree to.

"Well..." Harry seemed to be considering whether he should tell or not. "You see, when Snape is teaching Malfoy... he actually explains things. Clearly, even. And if I'm in there cleaning, they ignore me. I've learned more about Potions this year than I ever have before."

Dumbledore laughed, relieved. "Well, who am I to stand between a person and his education? However that learning might happen. I'll say nothing about it, if that is your wish."

"Thank you, sir," Harry murmured gratefully.

"That's quite all right, Harry. If I might ask, what lesson are they working on now? Is it the reason all three of you are... having problems with your tempers?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think healing potions cause nightmares. And those two have always been prickly."

"Are you sure it's only nightmares?"

Harry shrugged. "Mostly. He's been fairly quiet; or at least, whatever he's doing isn't happening much when I sleep. Even when he does interrupt my sleep, it's never any real information I can tell people about. That he's angry or annoyed is not a big surprise to anyone, and I'm not getting details."

"You would tell me if it were anything more, wouldn't you?"

Harry glared angrily. "Of course I would! If it could help or save someone's life, you know I'd be here immediately."

Dumbledore held up his hands in a conciliatory fashion. "Of course, of course, I never meant to imply you wouldn't. I know you would do all you could to save those Voldemort hurts."

Harry settled back down, though still frowning at the old man.

"You haven't been spending much time with Mr. Weasley or Miss Granger lately. Is everything all right between you?"

"Everything's fine. We still see each other all the time, but they're a couple now and need some private time. Besides, it'll take a couple of days before they forgive me for what I did this morning," he grinned.

"Wonderful to hear," Dumbledore twinkled. "And is there someone special for you? Young Miss Weasley perhaps?"

"Ginny!" Harry yelped. "She's Ron's *sister*!" he said as if that explained everything.

*~End Flashback~*

The conversation had turned to the innocuous and Harry left a few minutes later. It hadn't been the conversation that so disturbed him; it was the feeling he got while he was in the room with the Headmaster. As if there was this giant pressure not to lie, and to tell Dumbledore everything he wanted to know. He didn't like lying as it was, especially since he'd become a gryphon, but this was more than that… something pressing at him to not even shade the truth in the way he had been doing. The whole time, he had been fighting himself, wanting to confide in the older man and finding it harder to understand why he didn't just tell him what they were up to. After all, finding a way to destroy Voldemort was a good thing.

Still, he didn't think Dumbledore would approve of their plans. It wasn't Grfyffindorish enough for the old man. If they were lucky, there would be no pitched duel with spells flying and him standing alone against the monster. No tragic hero - no martyr. A frown furrowed his brow. Where had that thought come from? Surely that wasn't what Dumbledore wanted, was it?

"Heavy thoughts?"

Harry reacted instantly. He drew his wand even as he threw himself off the stool. The body bind curse was thrown before his back hit the ground and he immediately began to roll for cover, ignoring the effects of hitting the solid stone floor.

He was about to cast another spell when he was brought up short by clapping. He peeked over the edge of the bench he was using for cover. He caught a glimpse of blonde hair and dropped back down with a groan. Only one family had hair like that.

"Was there something you wanted, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Good reflexes, Mr. Potter," Lucius drawled. "However, your aim needs a little work."

"Well, excuse me for missing such an obvious target. You hair should have drawn my spell like the beacon it is."

"Testy, are we?"

"Well, I don't know about you. What reason do you have to be testy?"

"Having to listen to my son's expositions on your character and likely fate could make anyone testy," Lucius answered with a smirk.

"As enjoyable as that must have been," Harry bit out tiredly, "why are you here?"

"I should think that would be obvious," Lucius murmured. "I'm here for your stimulating company, of course."

Harry just glared and Lucius chuckled. He pulled a potion vial out of his cloak pocket. "I have already gone through this with Draco and Severus; I want no arguments out of you Mr. Potter. You will use your time-turner to go back five hours. Go directly to bed and take this. It's simply Dreamless Sleep," he explained in response to Harry's opening mouth. "Sleep as long as you can, get up and eat, then sleep some more. I will handle the potion until you three have slept yourselves out, or Monday morning, whichever comes first."

"But how will you stay awake that long?"

"I assure you, Mr. Potter, I am fully capable of staying alert and effective for more than 24 hours at a time. I have rested and prepared myself. I would not have suggested this if I didn't know I could do it." He handed Harry the bottle.

Now that Harry had the chance to get some real sleep, he could hardly keep his eyes open, but that didn't keep him from asking questions. "But what do I tell my friends... I had detention."

"Tell them that you don't care why detention was canceled; you're tired and anyone who dares to wake you before you're ready will die a most painful death. Tomorrow is Sunday, so you should have nowhere to be."

"M'kay," Harry agreed tiredly, before gratefully doing as he'd been told.


	21. Chapter 21

Hmm... Chapter 29 was really short, and Chapter 30 was one of the longest, so I took half of 30 to add to 29 to make this chapter... and now the next chapter will be short... unless I add some of the next chapter to it... which I probably will, but I guess we'll all find out on Thursday, huh? ^_^ But since there's only 35 chapters all together, originally, we're getting close to the end. Actually the next chapters are all fairly long, so it'll probably be another 4 or 5.

Thanks to Xikum for the wonderful betaing job!

Oh, and I don't own anyone.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry woke to the sound of his own screams echoing through the fifth year dorms and the feel of a hand on his shoulder. He reacted violently, swinging at the hand even as he grabbed his glasses and tried to move off the other side of the bed. Just as he got his glasses onto his face, he heard and recognized the voice calling him.

"Harry! It's okay, mate!"

"Ron?" Harry asked, confused, even as the hand that placed his glasses on his nose went up to press against his scar.

"Yeah, Harry, it's me." Ron said carefully.

Harry looked around to see all of his dorm mates gathered around him with worried expressions on their faces. "Sorry, I didn't mean to forget the silencing charms," he said with embarrassment.

"That's okay, Harry. But what was all that about?" Dean asked.

Harry opened his mouth to respond, but then his face paled. Without another word, he grabbed his wand and raced for the door, pushing past Seamus and Neville without even a 'sorry'. Ron ran after him, never considering letting him go on his own in this condition.

Harry exploded out of the portrait opening, ignoring the Fat Lady's protest just as he'd ignored everything else in the last few minutes. All he could think of was getting there in time, stopping ***him***. He ran to the closest stairway, the one that led into the Stair Hall, the cavernous corridor with room for all of the moving stairs to shift as they chose. There, heading towards the front doorway, stories below, were two figures, both in black.

"Wait!" Harry yelled, but the two figures didn't hesitate. With no time to consider, he ran toward the stairway, but instead of going down the stairs, he climbed over the railing, and threw himself into the open air.

"NO! HARRY!" Ron ran after his best friend, wand out, to watch with his heart in his throat as Harry's body changed. He calmed down as he noticed the wings on Harry's Animagus form, only to start shouting again as he realized he wasn't opening them up.

Harry dove, going faster and faster as he fell, his wings still held tight against his feline body. Twenty feet above the floor, he finally snapped them open, changing his trajectory from straight down to curving, his paws coming down to hit the floor as it came more than a bit too close for comfort. With no wind to help keep him afloat, it took everything he had, every bit of strength in his highly muscled body, to keep from meeting the floor headfirst. Still, he somehow managed, hitting the ground running and charging straight towards the two men who were turning at the sound of claws behind them.

Harry didn't stop. He ran straight at the two men and pounced on one of them, knocking him down. His beak clacked right in front of the Potion master's face as he panted as best he could through an eagle's mouth.

"Harry!" Severus snapped. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Harry, we've got to go," Lucius admonished.

Harry looked up, still panting and gestured with his head for the other man to go on.

"Severus needs to go, too."

Harry shook his head.

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you'd change back and tell us what the problem is," Severus said in a cold, hard voice. He was obviously getting very impatient, his voice showing what his words didn't.

If gryphons could be said to look sheepish, Harry somehow managed it. He quickly changed back into human form, still pinning Severus. "Vision," he panted. "Voldemort knows you're a spy. He doesn't know about you, Malfoy, but be careful... and... I'm sorry for your loss," he said softly.

"My loss?" Lucius demanded, instinctively looking towards the dungeons, before realizing there was no way Harry could have been speaking of Draco. "Do you mean Narcissa?"

Harry nodded, finally getting up. "I don't know what proof she had, but she convinced Voldemort about Severus. But he was already so angry because of a raid that went wrong... he killed her anyway."

He noticed the rage that infused Lucius' face before he wiped it off. No grief, though. It wasn't surprising. From what he knew, the elder Malfoys did not have a very close relationship, but she was still a Malfoy, and should not have been touched. Not even by Voldemort.

Severus rolled to the side, checking his limbs as he got up. "I'll see you there," he told Lucius.

"Wait a minute!" Harry argued, getting ready to pounce him once again, feline body or no feline body.

"In my other form," Severus continued as if he hadn't been interrupted.

Harry calmed down. Going as a shadow phoenix was acceptable. "Alright, I'll go deal with the potion, then." He hesitated. "Draco isn't..."

Lucius had already headed out, but Severus shook his head. "We decided to use the time-turner when we came back instead of waking one of you."

Harry nodded his understanding. He did not want to have to be the one to break that news. He watched as Severus swept out of the doorway, knowing he wouldn't change while all of the portraits could watch. It was bad enough Dumbledore would now know about Harry's transformation ability, he didn't need to know about anyone else's.

As he headed down the hallway, he heard steps running up behind him. He turned quickly, only to see a panting and red-faced Ron Weasley heading toward him. "Hey, Ron."

"'Hey, Ron?' 'Hey, Ron?' You jump out of bed like an acromantula is after you, scare me half to death by *diving* off the railing and almost killing yourself, and once I finally get down here, all you've got to say is, 'Hey, Ron?'" Ron screamed.

Harry blushed. "Sorry about that," he muttered.

"Don't tell me sorry! Tell me what's going on! Why did you attack that person then let them go? Why aren't we telling Dumbledore what you saw?"

Harry sighed and started walking, Ron right next to him. "Voldemort knows that Severus is a spy."

"Severus...? You mean *Snape*?"

"Do you know any *other* spies?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"So you were..." Ron started.

"Stopping him from walking into a trap," Harry finished.

"Why? And since when do you call him 'Severus', anyway?"

"Why?" Harry echoed. "What do you mean, why? Because I don't want him getting tortured and killed, obviously."

Ron thought about that for several steps before sighing. "I guess I don't want that either," he finally said reluctantly.

"I know you don't like him, Ron. And okay, I was the same way before this year. But he's really helpful when it's just us. And I don't want anything to happen to him"

"And you don't care if anything happens to you? You could have killed yourself trying to keep him from getting killed!"

Harry looked thoughtful as they walked into the room in which the potion was bubbling away. "It's probably a good thing he didn't see me," he said. The first tone sounded immediately, and he walked over quickly to grab the stirring spoon and wait for the second.

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, confused. He had been talking about Harry almost killing himself, and the only answer Harry had was he was glad someone hadn't seen him? *He'd* seen him and been scared out of his mind, wasn't that enough?

Harry waited until he was through stirring before speaking again. "Severus," he answered. "He doesn't approve of me taking stupid chances and has ways of making me regret it. But he didn't see, so it's all good."

"Didn't see what?" A voice said from behind them. "And what's Weasel doing here?"

Harry froze, his face paling. "Draco."

Harry worked hard to get the expression off of his face before he turned around, and was pretty sure he had managed it. "What are you doing here? I thought you'd still be asleep."

"Unlike you, *I* have no need for external aids to get to sleep," Draco sneered, obviously still deeply annoyed at the other boy. "I also was smart enough to set a ward on this room so I'd know if it was left empty."

"But it's not empty, is it? We're here. So you can go on back to your bed," Ron bit out.

Draco stalked forward. "Look, Weasel..."

Harry pulled out his wand and started to twirl it idly. "Hmm... I thought I'd taken care of this problem for a little while. Perhaps I should try something more... permanent?"

The two boys glared hotly at Harry, but they did back away from each other. Ron looked around and headed towards the potion. "So, what's all this, then?"

"I'd be careful," Draco smirked. "That potion steals souls."

"Yeah, right," Ron scoffed, but he did move away from it.

"Actually, with the right container and the right spell, that's exactly what it will do," Harry explained. "One particular soul, at least."

Ron gaped.

"How did you expect it to happen?" Harry asked seriously. "Some gigantic battle where hundreds would fight and die all to get me into the perfect position to finally Avada Kedavra the snake? With plenty of glory for all those that live and even more for those that die? I don't think so. I'm not going to have all of those deaths on my conscience, all to allow me to use an Unforgivable that probably wouldn't even work. After all, it didn't work last time, did it? It gave the wizarding world ten years of peace, but then he returned. He will not return this time, I promise you that. We've found a way, we *will* use it, and once that's done, he will be gone forever, with no way to ever be brought back."

"That's brill, mate," Ron said sincerely.

"But?" Harry asked with amusement.

"But what?" Ron was obviously confused.

"I know you, Ron," Harry smirked. "You wanted to continue that statement. But?"

"Fine!" Ron glared back. "How can you let that Death Eater help you?"

Harry sighed. "Draco would no more work for Voldemort than you would! And would you stop that infernal flinching!" he practically roared. It had not been a good night so far; Harry was tired, he'd seen far more than he wanted to, and he wouldn't be able to get to sleep until Severus, and yes, even Malfoy, got back. He was *not* in the mood to put up with these petty annoyances.

"Did it ever occur to you that there might be a good reason no one wants to speak his name?" Draco drawled.

"Oh, there is, plain old fear," Harry snapped back.

"Besides that," Draco waved that off.

"You mean an actual *logical* reason for it?" Harry was abruptly interested.

"I don't know that it was ever proved, but rumor has it the Dark Lord *can* hear when you say his name, *if* there's a person with the Dark Mark nearby."

Harry looked at him with interest, and waited for him to continue.

"There's supposed to be a listening spell on the Dark Mark that would be activated whenever his name was spoken in the vicinity, and then he'd be able to hear everything that was said."

"*That's* why people don't say his name?"

"Sounds like a bloody good reason to me," Ron muttered.

Harry shook his head with a grin. "That wasn't the best way to handle it," he disagreed.

Draco nodded, understanding immediately. "Yeah, they should have started using his name all the time."

"Wha?"

"Just think about it. If he heard every conversation that has his name in it, drop the name into every conversation. If there's suddenly hundreds of conversations going on at the same time, all having nothing to do with him, but his name showing up anyway, and him having to listen, it would drive him nuts."

"Which he would then take out on anyone he could get his hands on," Ron reminded him.

"Eh, he'd do that anyway," Harry brushed it off.

"So," Ron looked around carefully, as if trying to catch any eavesdroppers. "Do you think it's true?"

"No," Harry said immediately.

"Maybe," Draco replied more cautiously.

Harry looked at him. "I don't think so," he disagreed. "We've said 'Voldemort' several times in front of two people we both know have the mark, while talking about this plan. Besides, if he did have that ability, he wouldn't have needed your mother to find out Severus was a spy." He suddenly stopped and paled as he realized what he had just blurted out.

Draco froze. "What did you say?" he ground out between clenched teeth.

Harry looked around wildly for inspiration. "Um... why don't we wait until Severus comes back," he suggested.

"I don't think so," Draco disagreed immediately. "What did you mean?"

"Not now, Draco," Harry muttered.

"Oh, no you don't," Draco hissed. He stalked over to Harry and grabbed his head, making him stare into his eyes.

Harry tried to blank his gaze, but could tell that it hadn't worked as he watched the blood drain from his friend's face.

"Tell me," Draco whispered.

Harry glanced over at Ron as best he could with Draco's hands still holding his face still. "Ron, you can go back up the dorms now."

"Oh, I don't think so, mate," Ron disagreed. This kind of entertainment he wasn't going to miss.

"Ron, please," Harry practically begged. "Just... go."

Ron was typically as sensitive as Trelawny on a bad day, but even he could occasionally see beyond the freckles on his nose, and he could hear the pleading in his friend's voice. Whatever was going on wasn't going to be good, and Harry didn't want him around when he told Draco. Personally, he didn't know what it was that could be so bad, but he reluctantly agreed to leave, determined to get the information out of Harry later. This was one time he wasn't going to let it go. But for now he left, though not without a few glances over his shoulder.

Once they were alone, Harry looked sadly at Draco. How could he possibly tell the other boy that his mother was dead? Just the fact that she'd betrayed his godfather would have been enough, but to add her death on top of that...

With Draco looking at him as if searching for answers, Harry found he had no words. He opened and closed his mouth several times without finding anything to say. Finally, he just lowered his eyes, unable to face his friend's blue-grey orbs and blurted out, "I'm sorry."

"No," Draco muttered, his hands squeezing uncontrollably. "No," he said again, stronger. His hands left Harry's face to press against his chest. "NO!" This time it was screamed out as Draco shoved Harry, hard.

Harry stumbled backwards. He probably would have fallen if his back had not impacted the wall. He stared wide-eyed at his friend, who was still shaking his head negatively. He watched as the anguish transformed into rage.

"You're lying!" Draco screamed. Without any more warning, he rushed at Harry. "How dare you lie about something like that! How dare you?" He hauled back and slammed his fist forward with all the power he had. Luckily for Harry, Draco had not had much practice with the physical side of brawling. Unfortunately, it did not take much power for the punch to his jaw to send his head back to slam, hard, against the rough stone wall.

Harry cried out at the sudden pain from the front, immediately followed by an even sharper pain in the back. He slid down the wall as his legs suddenly gave out on him. Uncomprehendingly, he reached behind his head and then brought his fingers to the front, staring at the blood upon them.

Draco was just as shocked, unable to take his eyes off the blood trail on the wall. "Merlin, Harry," he whispered, all trace of anger gone.

Harry laughed a little, still staring at his fingers and without thinking of what he was saying. "You and Voldemort have almost the same reaction to bad news. I'm glad you, at least, didn't use your wand."

He snapped out of his shock as Draco let out a wounded sound, and he realized what he had said. "Draco," he called out, trying to stop him, trying to apologize, but he was too late, as the blond-haired boy ran out of the room.


	22. Chapter 22

Harry pushed himself to his feet, then had to hold himself still against the wall as he waited for the nausea to abate and the room to stop spinning. Once steady on his feet, he headed for the doorway, determined to chase down his friend. Only to be stopped by a tone he knew very well.

He only hesitated for a moment, before turning towards the potion. He dipped his hand in the sterilization potion before picking up the stirrer. They'd worked too long and hard on this to ruin it because of his inattentiveness or carelessness. Getting his blood into the potion would ruin it even more surely than missing a stirring.

With the potion stirred, he headed out once more. After exiting the room he stopped. He had fifteen minutes to find Draco, and absolutely no idea where he might be. He did know that Draco was unlikely to go back to the Slytherin dorms. Still, it was the best place for him to start.

He got turned around twice on the way to the opening he'd only been through once before; he could literally feel the time slipping away from him, but he finally made it. It was far too late at night to find someone to follow into the rooms, so he went with his gut.

::Hello?:: He thought for a long moment that his gamble wouldn't work, but just as he was ready to leave and try something else, he saw a moving shadow upon the door.

::Hello?:: he hissed again.

::Who speaks?:: the shadow hissed back. ::You do not belong here. You might speak, but you are not one of the young snakes.::

::I'm a friend to one, the silver one. He is hurting and I need one to track him down.::

::The silver prince?:: the snake sounded thoughtful. ::You will need the quiet jester then.::

Before Harry could ask who that was, the snake had vanished into the stones once more.

Three long minutes later, the stones opened and the very person Harry was looking for stepped out. Harry straightened up from where he'd been leaning against the wall, and once more had to steady himself.

"What happened?" Blaise asked. Then his eyes narrowed as he looked at something on the wall behind Harry. "Just a moment." Blaise turned and vanished into the common room, leaving Harry blinking after him in confusion. Harry turned to look at the wall and noticed the torchlight glinting upon fresh blood.

When the wall opened again, Thyme Scarborough, Neville's girlfriend, followed her fellow Slytherin through the opening. "What happened?" she asked quietly, even as she pulled Harry's head around so she could look at the back of it. "The back of your robe is soaked," she scolded. "You shouldn't be walking around."

"It doesn't really hurt," Harry tried to explain. "It shouldn't have bled that much. It was just a punch."

"On the back of your head?" Blaise scoffed.

"No," Harry replied absently. "That's from when my head hit the wall when he punched me. It's not important right now, though."

"It's very important," Thyme disagreed. "Head injuries are serious. This looks like it's just a small cut, though," she admitted as she moved hair out of the way, "and head wounds always bleed more than others do, but what if you have a concussion?"

"I'm fine," Harry tried to tell them. "I didn't ask you out here for me, you know."

"You can tell us on the way to the infirmary."

Harry shook his head, before stopping and groaning softly. "I can't. I've got to get back to the potion, and we've got to find Draco."

"Is he the one who punched you?" Blaise frowned.

"Yeah," Harry admitted. "He'd just gotten some really bad news and he lashed out, and then I went and said something *really* stupid, and he ran away. We need to find him, soon." He used his wand to check the time. "And I've got to get back to the potion."

"I assume this is what the three of you have been working on for so long?" Thyme said. "Come on then, I'll clean you up there, but if I see any signs of a concussion, you're heading straight to Madam Pomfrey. Understand?"

Harry looked at her strangely. "Do you by any chance want to be a mediwitch when you grow up?"

"Just like my grandmother," Thyme agreed.

"Well, you've got the bedside manner down," Harry remarked. He led the way towards their workroom. "Now about Draco..."

"Tell me where you last saw him and I'll track him down," Blaise told him.

Harry stopped in front of the door. "He left here about twelve minutes ago."

Blaise nodded and concentrated. In a moment, where he had stood was now a small grey fox. He sniffed around for a moment, then yipped and bounded away. They watched him go, then headed into the room.

"I didn't know you had managed your Animagus forms," Harry pouted.

"Hmm," Thyme hummed ignoring his words as she forced Harry down onto a stool under the brightest source of light. She pulled out her wand and with a quick flick, he was clean. "It looks like it's stopped bleeding," she finally admitted, "but I'd still like to put something on it. Do you know where Severus keeps his salve?"

Harry shook his head carefully, still mindful of the dizziness. "I don't go into his stores without permission. I know he has some specifically for me, but I don't have a clue where they would be."

"I still think you should go see Madam Pomfrey," Thyme fretted. "You might have a concussion."

"And how would he have received that?" a silky voice asked from the shadows.

"Severus!"

Severus watched as one of his Slytherins, Thyme Scarborough, looked through Harry's hair. "What happened?" he demanded.

"He hit his head," Thyme informed him. "It doesn't look like it's any worse than a fairly small cut, but it did bleed fairly extensively. I also saw him clutch the wall as if he was dizzy on the way back here."

"I wasn't dizzy," Harry disagreed petulantly. "My head just hurt when I moved and I needed to stop until it quit."

Severus briskly but gently took his chin in his hand and lifted it so he could see Harry's eyes, his own eyes narrowing as he noticed the red skin of a forming bruise. He raised his wand and chanted out a different spell than the last diagnostic Harry had seen him use. Something about cassettes?

"Your brain is slightly shaken, but I'm sure you're used to that," Severus murmured cuttingly. He moved into his office and returned with a vial of potion which Harry quickly drank. By the time Severus moved to the back of his head to check the cut, it was already completely healed. Severus, however, frowned, as he saw the blood matted in Harry's black hair. A careful 'scourgify' cleared it off.

Severus was about to dismiss Thyme so he could ask what had happened, when a grey fox scrambled through the door. His form shimmered and then flowed into Blaise's. "I found him."

Harry surged to his feet and would have headed to the door if a hard hand hadn't clamped down on his shoulder. "You are going nowhere until you tell me what is going on and who hit you!"

Harry sighed. He knew there was no getting out of this when the Potion professor used that tone of voice. Still, it made him feel warm inside that the older man was angry on his behalf rather than angry with him. "Ron and I came down, and found Draco already here."

"And Weasley was involved for what reason?"

"My vision woke the whole dorm," Harry explained. "Ron followed me out because I was obviously freaked. Then he saw me jump and really got worried. There was no way he'd leave me alone after that. Of course, he didn't take too well to Draco being here, but we got over that and were actually having a civil conversation, talking about the reason people feared the name Voldemort. And some comment might have been made about his mother." All joking left his tone and he started talking faster. "I didn't mean to tell him, but I had to because he knew something was wrong.

"So I told Ron to leave and told Draco about her, but he didn't believe me and hit me for lying to him. Then I... um... said something and he ran off. I got Blaise to find him and now he has, so I'm going to go talk to him."

Severus blinked. "I will go talk to him. You are obviously more rattled than we had believed if you are babbling to such an extent."

Harry frowned. "I need to..."

"You need to do as you're told," Severus said severely. He didn't give him another chance to argue, sweeping out of the room with Blaise trailing along behind him. The last word the two left behind heard was "And don't pout, Potter."

Harry pulled in his lower lip quickly before muttering mutinously, "I wasn't pouting."

Thyme laughed. "Of course you weren't, Potter."

Severus held back a sigh. He'd expected to come back to his rooms, reassure Harry that all was well and send him back to bed. Regardless of his last order as he had left, he really hadn't expected the boy to go off to bed. He hadn't, however, expected Draco to be awake, much less aware of what had happened. He'd thought Draco would still be asleep, and nothing would need to be said until Lucius showed up the next morning. So much for those plans.

"He's in there," Blaise's voice interrupted his thoughts as they stopped in front of a doorway.

"Thank you, Blaise." Severus said quietly but sincerely. "You may go back to your dorm."

"Yes, sir."

Once Blaise was gone, Severus still stood for a moment outside the door. He was exhausted and honestly not sure he was up to dealing with an emotional teenager, though he knew he didn't have a choice. He couldn't just leave him here. Still, what to Draco and Harry had been an excitable half hour or so, had been the culmination of several very full hours for himself.

The meeting had gone about as expected. Lucius had done a wonderful acting job on being surprised and dismayed. Voldemort had been extremely annoyed that Severus hadn't shown up, and had taken a good deal of that annoyance out on Lucius. That did have one good result though; they had found out that a shadow phoenix's tears could cure as well as a fire phoenix's. No, the official meeting had not been too much of a surprise. The gathering after it had been the startling one.

Lucius had made quiet plans with several of the Death Eaters to rendezvous at Malfoy Manor after the official meeting. However, when people started arriving, *far* more came than expected. It seemed that many others took exception to the death - for no good reason - of Narcissa Black Malfoy, a pureblood and wife of an Inner Circle member. After all, she should have been protected by both her blood and her husband's rank. If Malfoy's wife could be killed so easily, so could their own.

When Lucius heard that comment, he looked blandly at the speaker. "If I were you, Smith, I would be far more worried about my child. After all, the day we will be commanded to bring our children in front of him to be Marked is coming up quickly."

"You don't seem to be very worried about your son," Smith sneered.

"Draco is sixteen years old. As such, except for those things necessary for Initiation, he is not in much danger. Your own Marguerite however, is but three."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Bigley asked.

Lucius looked around at the uncomprehending expressions on the other men's faces and held back a sigh. "Did none of you bother to research the Dark Mark?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Obviously you have not, so let me enlighten you. If the Dark Lord Marks a child under the age of four, the child will be a slave, having no free will of his or her own. Also, a child whose power is unfocused, in other words, one who has not developed the ability to channel their magic using a true wand, will find their power drained away very quickly. To put it in simpler words, if your child is under four, they will be made into a mindless automaton, and if they are under eleven, they will be drained to the point of Squibs or beyond."

That caused an explosion of outrage, especially among those who had children not yet in school. Lucius soon put a stop to that. "Oh, I wouldn't be so calm if I were you, Parkinson. We still haven't gotten to the worst part."

"There's something worse?" Bigley squawked.

"The Dark Mark can not be given to someone totally pure. And I am not talking about blood purity. Considering the way he has been acting lately, I would not be surprised if he would expect you to take your own child's - or children's - purity."

"Surely you are mistaken!" One of the newer recruits blurted. "Carter is only nine months old!"

"Do you believe he would care?" Lucius asked silkily.

The explosion this time was much longer and far more out of control. Lucius looked on in disgust as these, among the best of the purebloods of the wizarding world, scions of respectability, and most of all, Slytherins who had been taught better than this, ranted and raved, shouted and screamed as they fully understood what his words had meant.

It took almost twenty minutes, during which Lucius sat watch with a firewhiskey in his hand that he occasionally sipped, before they calmed down enough to talk rationally. Parkinson spoke up once again. "You have a plan to get Draco out of this, do you not?"

"And if I did, why should I tell you?"

There was silence from the dozen men gathered around. Before, finally, one spoke. "Because I want out. And I know I'm not the only one. This might have been fun when I was a teenager, but I'm a family man now, a pillar of the community, and I do not want a youthful indiscretion to haunt me and my family for the rest of our lives, or bring us to ruin."

Slowly, many others in the room began to nod. Fourteen years without the Dark Lord's charismatic presence had given them the time to mature on their own and take a long hard look at the choices they'd made. While many did not truly regret what they had been, they had changed, and what they wanted out of life had changed as well. Not to mention that the Dark Lord's sanity seemed to have very much deteriorated in the interim, along with his plans for the wizarding world. By the time he did finally come back, there were very, very few Death Eaters who truly wanted Voldemort to return, and after they experienced his new persona, there were even fewer.

Lucius looked at them thoughtfully for a long moment, then nodded. "Come here on Tuesday at eight in the evening and we will discuss this."

Knowing a dismissal when they heard one, the others slowly began to gather their cloaks and leave, whilst talking quietly to one another. Only when a house elf came forward to announce that they were all gone, did Severus descend from the shadowy corner from which he had watched the entire meeting.

"What do you have planned?"

Lucius took a large sip of his drink. "I believe we can at least get their promise to stay out of the fight. Although we hope that Voldemort will not know what is happening until too late, there is still the possibility that he will manage to call for help. All we truly need is their promise to stay away from the mansion on the day we take him down."

"And how many of them will now, immediately, run to the Dark Lord, hoping that telling of your treachery will buy them immunity for their children?"

"That is why I did not tell them anything of our plans, today. By Tuesday, there will hopefully be a way to make them tell the truth."

"You know there is no way they will take a truth potion in front of everyone, or even just yourself."

"That's not what I was considering."

Severus' eyes suddenly went wide. "You are *not* thinking..."

"I *am* known for having quite a menagerie."

"Absolutely not!"

"No one would think twice about my having a gryphon, and since gryphons cannot force truth, they should have no trouble swearing in front of him."

"The idea is utterly ridiculous! I will not allow you to place Harry in such danger!"

"No one will know it is him, and I will not allow anyone to harm him."

"I. Said. NO!" Severus hissed. "Find a different way, because you will not use him like that."

"Think logically, Severus! Everyone we can keep away from the mansion is one less we have to fight. You three will need to devote all of your power to the spell and I am the only protection you will have while you are casting it! If it fails, it is unlikely you will get another chance. If you can think of another way to test their trustworthiness, then tell me. Otherwise, we go with my plan. No one would dare attack one of my animals; you know that. Harry will not be harmed. I expect many more people here on Tuesday than were even at today's meeting, and getting that many people out of the fight is worth him leaving school for a couple hours. "

Severus recognized the logic is Lucius' statements, but that did not overcome his own purely emotional response. There was no way he would allow Harry to be put in danger like that.

"Fine," Lucius murmured. "I will simply ask him myself. I believe *he* will be able to understand the benefits of this action."

"No, you won't," Severus disagreed.

"Yes, I do believe I will," Lucius answered evenly. "I do believe you're becoming as protective of that boy as I am of Draco. Will he be calling you 'Daddy', next?"

Severus brought himself back to the present with a sneer. Honestly, what was the man thinking? He did not think of Harry like that, and Harry certainly didn't consider him any type of father figure... right?

He shook those thoughts away. There was another child who needed him right now. He opened the door of the unused classroom and took in the destruction surrounding him. He quickly cast privacy charms.

"I didn't do it," Draco's voice, quiet and sad, came out of a darkened corner. He shuffled forward, his head hanging, dejection in his bearing.

Severus moved quickly to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder, unsure for once if such a personal gesture would be appreciated. Draco eliminated any uncertainty as he threw his arms around Severus and held on tight for one long moment. Before the older wizard could even begin to hug back, Draco suddenly moved away and pushed Severus towards the door.

"You need to go check on Harry. I'm fine," Draco said frantically.

"Harry's fine," Severus tried to soothe.

"No, he's not!" Draco disagreed. "I hit him and he was bleeding. He was right, I'm just like V...Voldemort."

Severus froze. "You are nothing like that bloodthirsty madman," he bit out. "Yes, you hit Harry, but there were extenuating circumstances and he understands that."

Draco shook his head, arguing silently.

"If he did blame you, do you think he would have traveled all the way to the Slytherin Common Room just to get help tracking you down?"

"He did that?"

"Yes, he did. Blaise is the one that came to find you while Thyme was checking Harry over."

Draco's face clouded once more at the reminder.

"He's fine," Severus forcefully repeated. "He's worried about you." Severus was watching him carefully. He knew that although Draco was truly worried about his friend, it was not what was most on his mind. He seemed to be trying to distract himself from his main grief. Narcissa might not have been much of a mother, but that did not change the fact that she *was* his mother and her death must have been devastating for him.

Finally, Draco closed his eyes and blurted out the question. "Was he telling the truth?"

"About what?"

"Is Mother dead? And... did... did she really tell *Him* that you're a spy?"

Severus sighed and conjured a couch, pulling Draco down to sit next to him. "Yes," he said carefully. "She is and she did."

"Why?" Draco wailed, tears finally coming to his eyes.

"Because Voldemort was already angry and she was convenient." Severus answered the easier of the two questions.

"Not that," Draco angrily dashed the tears away before they could roll down his cheeks. "Why did she tell about you and how did she know?"

"We don't know," Severus admitted. He lied of course, but there was no reason Draco needed to know. He didn't need his image of his mother tarnished any more than it already was.

"She..." Draco sniffed, "she probably did something to deserve it."

"No," Severus disagreed quietly, but adamant. "No one deserves that. No matter what they've done or not done, no matter who they are or are not, no one ever deserves that." Severus reached over and pulled his godson fully into his embrace. That gesture broke through the dam Draco had been striving to keep on his emotions, and throwing his arms around Severus' neck, he burst into sobs.

Severus just held him close and let him cry, knowing there was nothing else he could do. Internally, he cursed the woman and her greed. To denounce himself was one thing, but to denounce her son? And why! Because Lucius was using her diamonds for the focus! Even worse, though, was the reason she had gone after Draco and not Lucius.

It seems that the Malfoy prenuptial agreement was truly messed up… or maybe, it was just that Cissa's soul was unbelievably twisted If Narcissa did not bear Lucius an heir, or the heir did not make it to sixteen (a milestone Draco had reached a week ago), and Lucius had died or divorced her, she would have been left with nothing. If Lucius died before Draco, she would have lost the Malfoy name, and become a Black with a generous allowance. But one contingency had been left out. In case of divorce, the only way she could keep the Malfoy name and money was if Draco died after he reached sixteen but before Lucius.

It was this rationale that Lucius had used to explain his wife's actions, to convince his Master it was all a lie on her part, and perhaps vengeance combined with greed. That was something Voldemort was able to completely understand and it had kept Draco out of his bad graces, especially considering how soon it was after Draco's sixteenth birthday. It would not, however, have helped if Severus had shown up. Voldemort would have used whatever means necessary to make sure Severus had not betrayed him, and it was unlikely the spy would have survived the interrogation.

After almost fifteen minutes of nearly hysterical crying, Draco finally started to calm down. Severus had done nothing during that time but hold him close and stroke the boy's back as he tried to give what comfort he could. Once Draco was quiet for a few minutes, Severus tried to pull away so he could look down at him and speak, however strong hands had his robes in a death grip and he wasn't able to move. He looked down anyway, and smiled softly. Draco might have been holding on too tightly for him to get away, but he was also fast asleep. Severus pressed a kiss against his forehead and just held him close, waiting for enough time to pass that he could take him to his father. Those two needed each other fiercely now, whether or not that fact was acknowledged.


	23. Chapter 23

Short one this time. We're heading towards the end though, only three more chapters after this I believe.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry put his head down on his paws with a sigh. When Lucius Malfoy had suggested this, he'd thought it would be fun. He'd get to see how the Malfoys really lived, maybe even snoop around a bit. But no... he raised his great eagle head to glare into the shadows. He couldn't see into the dense darkness, but he knew. Oh yes, he knew.

From the moment he'd agreed, Severus had been deluging him with rules and restrictions. Absolutely no changing to human form while in the Manor. No wandering. Heck, no movement at all. He wasn't even supposed to look at the people who came in if he could help it, and he certainly wasn't supposed to respond to anything that was said or show any human emotion at all.

To make sure he didn't do anything he'd forbidden, Severus had picked him up and carried him to the room he was in now. He knew phoenixes were strong, but it was a little disconcerting to be carried by something so much smaller than himself. He'd made it unequivocally clear; when Severus said he wasn't to be human at all in Malfoy Manor, he meant it. Now the shadow phoenix was perched in a corner of the room and Harry just knew his professor hadn't taken his eyes off of him.

Contrary to all of his expectations for this trip, He. Was. Bored.

The opening door snapped his attention to it as if his head had been 'Accio'd. There was the Lord of the Manor and his visitors.

Harry looked closely at them all, trying to hold his face expressionless, something made infinitely easier by the fact that his head was currently a bird's. Beaks and feathers do not show emotion well.

Somehow, even knowing Severus and Malfoy, Harry hadn't fully comprehended one simple fact. Death Eaters were normal people. Every one of the men walking into the room was... ordinary. People that would be passed on the street without a second look. Without the black robes and white masks, there was no aura of evil and power, simply the same worry as every other wizard in these times. Worry that Voldemort would hurt their families.

"What are we doing in here with... that?" someone Harry didn't know asked. Now Harry understood the warning against human emotions. He *so* wanted to glare at the man, but gryphons were not known for understanding human speech.

"I believe we all wish for assurance of the truthfulness and trustworthiness of those gathered here. Since an oath or truth potion would not be accepted, this creature seemed the best choice."

Harry held back a snort, creature indeed!

It took a good bit of argument and everyone experimenting with his lie nullifying ability before there was an agreement. Once that happened, they all spoke a line Lucius required, saying they would not speak of, write, or in any way communicate or attempt to allow others to know that which was spoken of tonight. Not that it was foolproof without a binding oath, but they would be asked again before they left and anyone who couldn't still agree would be Obliviated. Still, they all knew they were taking some serious risks, even if they weren't telling anything truly important. What they were doing, the plan being made and agreed to, was damning enough. It would be worth it though, if it only worked.

"So, we're all here; we're all the telling the truth. Now, are you going to tell us what the Hell we're going to do?" one man yelled, his tone threatening. Obviously this was not a man who took surprises or stress well.

Harry would have growled if he had the vocal structure to do so, but the raspy cry he made as he surged to his feet and glared at the man was effective enough. He made it very clear he did not appreciate the man's tone of voice and threatening posture.

The man backed away quickly, even going so far as to hide behind another of those gathered around. Harry settled back down as Lucius gave him a warning look. He was sure a black bird was glaring at him from the rafters as well. He didn't care, his actions were justified, based on the man's tone, and could be easily passed off as a reaction to that.

"What you're 'going to do' is simple." Lucius informed them as the man calmed down, "Nothing."

"What?" "What are you..." "How can you..." Why..." the explosion of sound was immediate, and it wasn't Harry's human instincts that caused him to react. Before he even realized what he was doing, he was back on his paws, head back, wings extended as he screeched.

Silence blanketed the room except for the echoes of that cry. Finally, one of the men trying desperately not to soil themselves as the gryphon's eagle eye looked at them, spoke. "Perhaps we should continue this in another room."

"Certainly not, Bigley," Lucius said genially. "We don't want anyone to accuse me of lying, now do we? As long as there are no more outbursts on your parts, I'm sure there will be no more outbursts on its part."

There was much grumbling but everyone settled back down. Once they were all calm, Harry settled back down as well. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I expect you to do nothing. You will come to Narcissa's funeral and be seen. If the Dark Lord calls, you will do nothing. If he asks later why you did not come, the people gathered would be your excuse, especially as there will be a number of Aurors present."

"And what are you going to do?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Lucius informed them.

"It's our lives on the line! You know what he'll do if we don't show up when summoned! We've got the right to know!"

"Right? You think you have the right?" Lucius' voice was almost a whisper as he stalked forward. "You, who are too stupid to research on your own, too cowardly to make plans of your own, you think you have rights? The only right you have is to sit on your arse and cry about things not being fair. You're a sheep, and sheep don't need plans, they just bleat about wherever the shepherd sends them. So sit down, shut up and don't you dare demand anything of me again."

Harry was watching all this with interest. He was glad he wasn't the one being talked to that way. By the look on the man's face, angry Lucius was scary. Of course, he knew that, he still remembered second year when he freed Dobby. He held back a snicker. Angry Lucius might be scary, but he was really no match of an angry house elf.

Soon enough, Harry lost what interest he had. He suddenly realized *why* these people followed the Dark Lord: if they didn't have someone to 'Crucio' them when they argued, they'd never get anything done! What was so bleeding difficult to understand? Even if he'd really been a gryphon, he'd have been able to grasp their part of the plan.

As his attention wandered it was caught by a peculiar feeling on his lower back, just above his tail. It felt as if something was crawling on him. The skin on his back twitched, but the sensation was still there. He tried to reach it with his paws, front and back, but they couldn't quite get there. He turned his head farther then he thought possible and snapped at the spot, but his beak didn't reach.

The tickling, itching sensation was about to drive him mad. He had risen to his feet and was searching for something to rub against or a place to transform so he could use his hands. He had to scratch! Suddenly, however, he could feel something else running through his fur, scratching *just* right. Hard enough not to tickle, but not hard enough to hurt. He pressed his back up into those wonderful fingers, trying to get them to every inch of his suddenly sensitized back. Like the big cat he partly was, he moved closer to the wonderful feeling. He could feel his claws going in and out of their sheaths as he kneaded the hard wooden surface underneath him.

Finally, he dropped bonelessly to the floor. His back had been scratched masterfully and he was blissed out. Only then did he notice the room was empty except for himself and Lucius. Therefore, it must have been Malfoy that had such wonderful hands. Hands that, he abruptly realized, were no longer stroking him. He looked at the man reproachfully.

Lucius just chuckled. "Your timing was impeccable. Since they were under the impression that you were getting restless and therefore more dangerous, they left quickly and gave me no problems about the second acquiescence."

Harry looked at him, wondering if the timing was really so coincidental, then shrugged his massive shoulders, causing his wings to flutter slightly. So what if he had been manipulated? Those hands made up for quite a lot.

A dark bird swept down, pulling the shadows behind it like a tail. Harry just barely kept himself from snapping at the bird. His instincts were obviously still running high. It was only the thought of what terrible punishment Severus could come up with if he dared try that kept him still.

The shadow phoenix landed on Harry's back and looked at the blond. Lucius shook his head. "I need to make sure everyone has left. We would not want any stragglers wandering about the manor, would we?"

With a few trills of song as an answer, the shadow phoenix lifted the gryphon and flew away.


	24. Chapter 24

Almost done! One last chapter and an epilogue, and this one will be over.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

With less than a week to go until the most important date in their lives, Harry, Draco and Severus had moved into high gear. The potion was in the last stage of its brewing and required constant attention. Harry had pretty much dropped out of the potion making portion of their plan as it now required more than just specified stirring at specified times. The last few ingredients were being dropped in or scattered on with precise timing and the stirring and temperature changed with each one, so the Potions Master and his apprentice were babying it along.

Of course, not being a part of the brewing process didn't mean that Harry had it easy. Although the slow, tedious job of grinding up the diamonds had always been part of his job, the others had worked on it as well when they had free time. Now, it was all up to him, and they were less then three-quarters done. He was, he was positive, grinding diamonds in his sleep. After they were ground he still had to fuse them together around the potion.

To top all of that, Hermione was on his back constantly about midterm tests and the studying he should be doing, but wasn't. Was it his fault saving the world was more important than some measly tests? They weren't even the OWLs. Of course, the fact that Hermione had been left out of the loop on the whole 'saving the world' thing made that argument impossible to even bring up, so all he could do was submit to her tirades, telling himself she was only doing it because she cared.

Finally, however, it was done.

Lucius ensured there was a crisis at the Ministry that desperately required Dumbledore's presence. As soon as the Headmaster was outside the wards, Severus, Harry and Draco headed toward the Forbidden Forest.

Carefully, they moved under the branches of the Forest. Draco's eyes were unnaturally wide, the whites showing around the edges. He had never liked the Forest and meeting Voldemort there during his first year didn't help. Neither did several years of Hagrid's idea of 'interestin' critters' for Care of Magical Creatures class.

Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about it. Neither the potion nor the diamond powder could be subjected to the magic of phoenix flight at this stage, nor could the potion survive the roughness of drakeback or gryphonback flight.

Although they jumped fairly often at the sounds of scrabbling around them, they reached the clearing without catching sight of centaur, acromantula, or other such denizen of the dark woods.

Harry walked steadily towards the center of the clearing. Once there he settled as comfortably as possible onto his knees, the container holding the diamond sitting in front of him. Draco, carrying the cauldron of potion (the potion could not be decanted except in its final container), knelt in front of him. Severus walked in a circle around them, chanting and sowing salt and herbs as he cast a containment circle. He then took four glowing stones from his pocket and placed them at the four cardinal directions just inside the circle. Stepping into the middle, directly between Harry and Draco, he triggered the wardstones.

Once the circle was cast and the wards set, Severus stepped back. Harry took a deep breath and centered himself. Putting his hand above the container that held the diamond powder already mixed with certain ground herbs, he concentrated hard. Slowly, infinitesimally slowly, some of the powder rose from its container and hovered between Harry's hands. A bright white light glimmered and gleamed, the glow growing as the particles fused together. The process could not be monitored by the naked eye, but eventually a shape was becoming evident: the bottom of a bowl, half spherical but with seemingly hundreds of jewel-like facets.

Draco's eyes never wavered from the shape even as they watered from the light of the forging. However, that wetness was as nothing when compared to the sweat trickling down Harry's face from the effort he was making. Patiently, eyes straining, Draco waited. Finally, the moment came. The vessel was half finished, the forging was moving faster. Draco gracefully stood and picked up the cauldron. Carefully he held it above the dancing motes of diamond and started to pour its contents into the partially completed gem in a slow, controlled stream. As the vessel built itself around the viscous liquid, it drizzled down. The last few drops rejoined their brethren in the vessel; the last diamond sparks sealed the form into a fist-sized multifaceted ball and fell to the ground, immediately followed by its creator.

Draco jumped forward then froze, undecided what needed his attention more. Severus had no such doubts and headed for Harry. He knelt down next to him, placed his hands upon the boy's shoulders, and pushed magic into him. He kept it up until Harry began to stir. He quickly pulled out a Pepper Up potion and poured it down Harry's throat. Once sure that Harry would be fine, he stood back up.

"Make sure you keep hold of that," he told Draco, who, having seen Severus go to tend to Harry, had secured the sphere and was currently clutching it closely. Now that it was done, it was practically indestructible, being even harder than the diamond of which it was made.

Severus quickly took down the wards and unraveled the magic circle he had cast earlier. Once that was done, he transformed into his phoenix form. Hovering in the air in the middle of the glade, he waited until he felt two hands upon his tail feathers before shifting through the shadows to his quarters in the castle.

Two black heads and one blond gathered around a glowing ball on the table. The outside was a crystalline structure, much like a hundred sided die. Inside, a thick viscous grayish liquid roiled, constantly moving within its prison.

"It's hard to believe such a small thing will really make such a large difference," Draco murmured.

Harry was frowning.

"What's the matter?" Severus asked.

"I don't know. It's just... this seems wrong."

"Wrong? We've spent the past month doing nothing but making this, and it seems 'wrong'?" Draco squawked.

"What seems wrong about it?" Severus asked calmly.

"Well, it's just... doesn't it seem... isn't it kind of cheating?" Harry stumbled over the thought.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Well... everyone expects this big fight... and this just seems kind of cowardly."

"Are you ready for a big fight with Voldemort?" Severus asked logically as Draco just opened and closed his mouth in disbelief.

"I guess... if I... no." Harry finally admitted.

"And if we didn't do this now, how many would die or worse, within the next month, the next week even?"

"Too many," Harry agreed, thinking even one more was too much, yet knowing that even at the best, with such short time left, there still would likely be more.

"So how is it cowardly to take him down now and save all of those innocents?"

Harry thought about it for a long moment. "It isn't, I guess."

"What the heck brought this on?" Draco finally blurted out.

"I don't know," Harry sighed. "I guess I just started thinking about what everyone would say when it gets out."

"Since when do you *care* what everyone thinks?"

"Well, normally, I don't. But this is the big one. The one everybody has been expecting since I was a year old. And I can just imagine what Ron's going to think. Or Dumbledore."

"Dumbledore didn't pull you out for another one of his little chats, did he?" Severus asked with a frown.

"Yeah, this morning. How did you guess?"

"Because this isn't like you. It might have taken me a very long time to figure it out, but I did finally get to know you well enough to know you don't really care what anyone besides your friends think. You aren't destroying Voldemort for the good of the world anymore than we are."

Draco started shaking his head. "No Severus, I think you're wrong. That isn't what this is about at all." Both of the others looked at him in surprise. "You're not worried about what others would think; Sev is right about that. You don't like the fact that this plan means the two of us will be right there with you."

Harry blushed. "I just..."

"Don't want us to get hurt," Draco finished for him.

"Well, yeah," Harry admitted.

"Idiotic Gryffindor," Severus said almost fondly. "I have been risking my life for over twenty years, looking for a way to get rid of this monster. Now that we finally have a way, do you think I'm going to be anywhere else?"

"But it's not your job."

"Yes, it most certainly is. And it was long before it ever became yours."

"It's mine too. If he isn't destroyed now, not only will my father get hurt or killed, but I'll be on his hit list from now on. And while most of the students don't want to follow him, or hurt me, there will be at least a couple that bow to parental pressure and try to kill me for him if he finds out I have no wish to bear his Mark," Draco reminded him.

"When it comes down to it, we both have better reasons for doing this than you do. You could always just move to America and stay out of this war."

"No, I couldn't!" Harry disagreed vehemently. "I couldn't do that to my friends! Or to you two."

"Well, neither could we," Draco reminded him.

"This will work, Harry," Severus comforted. "If I did not truly believe that, we would *not* be doing it, for I would not risk either of you two on a venture I considered likely to fail. This," he pointed at the sphere, "represents our freedom, and now is the time for it to come to fruition."

"Yeah," Harry looked at it as well. "It is. I know it is. And we will. I'm sure of it." He paused. "But if either of you two dies because of this, I'll never forgive you."

"The same goes for us," Draco grinned.

"Now I believe it is time for you to be heading to bed. Sitting here staring at this will just make you worry more. We still have three more days before it's time and you need to be well rested." Severus looked at them seriously. "Over the next three days, pull in all the magic you can. You especially, Harry, since you used so much tonight. Don't hesitate to tell me if you're having trouble sleeping, I'll give you Dreamless Sleep if I feel it's necessary. I don't want anything to go wrong, so you need to be strong and fully restored to be prepared for Saturday."

"Yes sir," both boys agreed. They stood up and headed towards the door.

Before leaving the room, Harry stopped. He looked back at Severus, who had risen from his chair and was watching them leave. Without thinking too much about it, Harry ran back across the room and pulled the surprised Potions Master into a tight hug. "Goodnight Sev," he murmured, squeezing. Then let go and ran out the door.


	25. Chapter 25

The last battle! So why are you reading this?

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry was breathing rapidly. His eyes were wide and his skin deathly pale. This was it... and it was the scariest thing *ever*! Scarier than waiting for his uncle to come home after Aunt Petunia got the call about him being on the school roof. Scarier than having a broken leg when Dudley and his friends were Harry hunting. Even scarier than confronting a Basilisk or Hungarian Horntail.

This was beyond all of that. This was walking into the Dark Lord's lair, fully knowing who was going to be there. Well, okay, so they wouldn't be walking. It was the same difference.

Today was Narcissa's funeral. Thankfully, it was also a Hogsmeade weekend and the last day before the train left to take everyone home for Christmas break.

Harry and Severus were waiting in the Shrieking Shack for the signal that the Malfoys were in position.

"You need to calm down," Severus remonstrated gently. "You're vibrating."

"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?" Harry snapped. "We're walking straight into the evil guy's lair, in case you've forgotten!"

"You do remember you've fought him four times already, don't you?"

"But I didn't know he was going to be there, now did I? Besides, impulsively running off to save someone is not quite the same as going after the snake in his own lair." Harry was beginning to look a little wild-eyed, and his fingers clenched, white knuckled, around the orb he was holding.

Severus strode over to Harry and held his head with both hands, gently tilting it upward. He had to stop himself from being rougher – after all, he was more than a bit keyed up himself, but he knew that would be counter-productive. "Calm down," he hissed, glaring into Harry's bright green eyes. Slowly, Harry did as ordered, calming his breathing and with it, his thoughts. Once Harry was centered, Severus released his face and put his hands on Harry's shoulders. "It will be all right. We have a good plan and it will work."

"But what if..." Harry began.

Severus ended that line of thinking with a quick shake. "It. Will. Work. We've gone over every scenario the four of us could imagine. It *will* work."

Harry took a deep breath and nodded. "It will. We'll kill Snake-face and it'll all be over." His bearing was determined, and if there was a waver in his voice, Severus willingly ignored it.

Harry yelped as the bracelet on his arm got hot. It was time. "Good luck and be safe," he said. Now that the time to act had come, all his doubts and fears were banished. He knew his role. He threw his Invisibility Cloak over his head and clutched the orb tightly.

Severus hesitated a moment before saying fiercely, "If you do something foolishly Gryffindorish and get yourself harmed, I will make you wish that the Dark Lord had won!"

Under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry grinned at the threat, a grin he was still wearing as Severus transformed and flew close so Harry could grab a tail feather for the journey.

Severus dropped Harry off in the shadows to the right of Voldemort's throne. It was obvious at once that there was something they had not taken into consideration. He hadn't realized that Voldemort's presence would hurt quite as much as it did. The unexpected intensity of the sharp pain caused his grip on the orb to loosen as his hand reflexively reached to his forehead. Only Seeker-trained reflexes allowed him to recapture the sphere before it reached the ground. The adrenaline thus produced allowed him to push back the pain so he could concentrate on his surroundings.

There was Voldemort, his red eyes glaring malevolently from his dead fishbelly-white skin, his bald head gleaming in the light from the torches. His robes were black and blood red, made of dragon skin with the scales still on. He was sitting on a throne made of some slick black stone with grotesque faces carved into it. It was carved to look as if the person sitting on it was surrounded by lost souls screaming in timeless agony. In sum, it was an image created to terrify those brought before the Dark Lord.

Harry thought it just looked tacky.

Off to one side of the throne was a sniveling, cowering, boot-licking rat in human form. Directly in front of the throne was Lucius Malfoy; kneeling next to him was Draco. Their blond hair shone like halos in the dismal room.  
Behind them were four masked Death Eaters. That worried Harry. Lucius and Draco were out in the open and in the most dangerous position. Lucius would have to take those four out as quickly as possible, all on his own.

Then he heard it. To the left of the throne, a Shadow Phoenix started to sing and darkness almost exploded from Severus' position. Harry watched it, like dark clouds in a roiling storm. It was time to act.

Lucius moved at the first hint of song, throwing a shield over his son even as he moved towards Severus' position. His voice was one of three yelling out "Stupefy!" As darkness covered the whole room, he saw the Dark Lord block two of the spells, but the third one slipped through. That taken care of, Lucius turned his attention to the Death Eaters and sent a barrage of spells at their last positions.

Harry dropped his Invisibility Cloak; at this point it was only getting in the way, and anyway, as long as the darkness lasted it served no purpose. He threw every freezing, binding and stunning spell he knew at the Dark Lord's last position and heard Draco doing the same from his spot. Finally, almost assured Voldemort would not be moving and ruining the spell, Harry stopped.

He closed his eyes and opened his senses. He had been spending the last week pulling in all the energy he could from Hogwarts and its environs, but knew he would need more. As expected, the air  
practically vibrated with power. Harry shuddered. The power here felt poisoned, slimy, tainted... but there was so *much* of it! Suddenly, Harry almost understood why a mage could go Dark. It was obvious that this power had been gained by awful means; it fairly sang with agony. The rush Harry felt when he pulled it in was like nothing he'd ever felt before.

He was brought back to reality by the sudden absence of phoenix song. Forgetting his feeling about the power, he focused on the orb he held and started to chant. Two other voices joined his as they chanted together. Slowly, the orb started to rise from his hand and drift forwards, their concentration guiding it toward the spot and the being who was Voldemort.

As the darkness began to dissipate, all those who were still alive and conscious saw a strange tableau. There, upon his frightful throne, sat, or rather slumped, the great Dark Lord. Surrounding him was his traitorous Potions Master, the son of this right hand man, and his greatest enemy. Above his comatose form was an eerily glowing orb, pulsating with a strange grayish light. A light that was reaching toward the senseless body below it while the three mages chanted.

Lucius was fighting with the last Death Eater still standing. By the fighting style he knew he was facing his insane sister-in-law Bellatrix Lestrage. He had managed to take out two of the Death Eaters during the darkness, and the third as the lights began to return, while he was staring in disbelief at his insensate master. Bellatrix was the only one left, but she was also the most dangerous.

She was laying down a barrage of spells, putting him at a disadvantage as he had to spend most of his time shielding instead of attacking. He was so busy looking for an advantage he almost missed the slight change in body language indicating a change of target.

In fact, his mind caught the warning so late that the only thing he could do was move, placing himself between the spell and Harry. He hissed as a long cut opened on his shoulder. It was time to stop playing. He couldn't allow her to disrupt the ritual.

"What's the matter, Lucy? Can't save them all, can you?" Bellatrix had stopped to taunt. It was one of her most annoying traits, and today he would finally get recompense for all those times he had grit his teeth and borne it – her need to gloat would lead to her death. Silently, Lucius sent a spell her way, a simple reflecting jinx, while at the same time verbally sending a powerful exploding curse towards the stone at her feet. Bellatrix realized it wouldn't hit her directly, so simply took a few steps backwards, while putting up a basic shield to stop the fragments of floor that would be kicked up.

The explosion curse hit the floor... and bounced. Bellatrix barely had time for her eyes to widen in horror as she realized the trick and the reflected curse hit her in the sternum. The relatively weak shield she had up didn't even slow it down. The curse blew her backwards – quite messily - and it was obvious she would not be getting up ever again.

All this time, the other three continued chanting. Their eyes had closed as they focused all of their energy, power and magic on the orb that was growing so bright it could be seen through their closed  
eyelids.

With all of their attention on the magic they were weaving, and Lucius' taken by the dangerous Death Eaters, no one had noticed the cowardly one. Pettigrew snuck up to his master and poked him.  
Voldemort didn't move. Tendrils from the orb were wrapping around the Dark Lord. There was almost no time left to stop whatever was happening.

Peter pulled out his wand with his silver hand. "Enervate," he squeaked.

Voldemort woke, knowing something was very, very wrong. The Malfoys had betrayed him! And while he might be awake, he couldn't move!

"Your arm," he ordered through clenched teeth. He needed a distraction so he could fight through the spells holding him, and the arrival of his minions would do just fine.

Pettigrew placed his Dark Mark against Voldemort's hand and gritted his teeth against the pain as his Mark flared while the summons was sent out.

Lucius hissed as his Mark ignited. Severus almost faltered in the spell as he felt the call. Harry's hand raised to his forehead as his scar burst into pain. Draco's eyes opened as he felt the magic.

The eyes of the three mages widened as they felt Voldemort doing the one thing they hadn't known he could do and thus had not taken into consideration. He wasn't just calling through the Dark Mark, he was pulling. He was pulling the magic of everyone connected to him! He was using that magic to break the bonds on him! Even worse, he was draining Severus and Lucius!

The magic they had been weaving was now so far advanced that it could not be stopped without violence. It had taken on a life of its own. However, because of this Harry did not have to pay as much attention, allowing him to split his concentration. He had to do something! He couldn't stop chanting to cast a spell, nor could he pull magic from the ritual to try something wordless. As Severus was being drained, Harry was having to compensate for the missing magic, not only pulling from the magic around him, but digging deeply into his own reserves.

The only option left was to do something physical. This far in, their specific placement was no longer important. As soon as that thought percolated through his brain, Harry moved. He rushed straight at Wormtail, slamming into him and pushing him away from Voldemort.

There were, however, things Harry had not taken into consideration when making his move. Such as the fact that Pettigrew was a stout, full grown man, which Harry was not. And that, while short, he was still taller than Harry, whose growth had been stunted by early malnutrition. Plus, while Harry had Quidditch and dueling-strengthened muscles, it seemed groveling and being a rat required more strength than Harry had known.

All in all, this meant that while Harry did manage to tackle Wormtail and break the connection between him and Voldemort, he was then stuck fighting for his life with the man who had betrayed his parents... and who currently had a large, silver, magically stronger-than-human hand wrapped around Harry's throat.

The only thought going through his mind as his lungs burned with need for air and darkness began to close in, was "Snape's going to kill me."

Just as he was about to pass into unconsciousness and lose the thread of magic he was sending into the ritual, completely ruining it, Pettigrew jerked back and started screaming. Perhaps it was the Life Debt Wormtail had incurred several years before that would not let him kill his friend's son. Whatever the reason, Harry was suddenly back in control of his body and Pettigrew was on the floor writhing in pain.

Harry almost panicked. He had lost the thread of the chant as his breath had been closed off by Pettigrew's hands. Thankfully, this far into the ritual the chant could be held up by only two people, as long as the magic kept coming from them all. The lines grasping Voldemort were almost solid now. There was no way he was going to escape. Harry checked his magic levels and almost choked. His reserves were practically empty. He sensed the area around him, it felt almost dead. The vast miasma of power born from death and pain that had so overwhelmed him earlier had all been used.

The ritual wasn't finished yet! Could they have been wrong? Was it possible three mages didn't hold enough power to complete it?

He looked at the other two. Draco hadn't noticed it yet, but it was obvious by the pinched scowl on Severus' face that he had, and it worried him too.

Harry cast his eyes about almost desperately. There had to be something here he could pull power from! His eyes collided with the glaring malevolent crimson ones of their opponent. An opponent who was smirking at him. It was as if he knew. He wasn't even trying to get away anymore!

Harry's eyes narrowed, blazing emerald locked with glowing ruby. Slowly, he nodded, ignoring the confusion this brought. He walked forward until he stood in front of the Dark Lord.  
"Giving up, Potter? It was a good try, but not good enough," Voldemort gloated.

"Give up, Tommy? I don't think so."

"That's not my name," the Dark Lord hissed.

"Of course it is, you told me so yourself. Tom Marvolo Riddle, named after your Muggle father. The one who abandoned your mother and you when he found out she was a witch. The one you later killed and then used his bone to bring you back to life. I wonder if that means you're no longer Slytherin's Heir? I mean, that bloodline came from your mother, but you don't have any of her in you anymore, do you? Your body is made up of your Muggle father, my half-breed blood and Wormtail's flesh. Goodness, if I were you, I'd kill myself in disgust!"

Harry made sure his voice was as biting and sarcastic as he could. He wanted to make Voldemort angry enough to lose it and attack Harry. He succeeded.

As Voldemort started cursing and trying to break free once again, Harry closed his eyes. He found the connection between them and started to pull. If he hadn't been in such close proximity, it never would have worked. If Voldemort hadn't been in such an out of control rage, he would have been able to stop it.

The pain was excruciating. It felt worse than if his scar was bursting open, more like if his head were splitting. And that was *before* Voldemort realized what Harry was doing and started fighting back. If Harry could have spared the concentration, he would have screamed. Nothing had ever hurt as much as this. Not getting bit by a Basilisk, battered about by a Hungarian Horntail or beaten up by his uncle. Nothing.

But if there was one thing life had taught Harry, it was to keep going no matter how much it hurt. Giving up just led to more pain, and the only way to get through it was to keep going. So he persevered. He continued to pull magic and send it towards the orb, fighting through the pain to do so.

Until suddenly... it stopped.

Harry cried out in denial. It couldn't have failed! Not when they were so close!

His eyes slowly opened, gummed together as they had been by tears of pain. There was Voldemort, stiff and unyielding on his throne. There was the orb, glowing too brightly to be looked upon directly. And there were the gray strands that had connected the two, slowly retracting towards the orb, twined around something black, slimy and struggling.

At the last tendrils of the black *thing* left Voldemort's body, the light went out of the glowing red eyes. The body began to slump. Harry watched with wide eyes as the black was pulled completely into the orb. With one final flash the orb turned dull and black and fell onto the suddenly dissolving remains of a body that, it was now clear, had been held together solely by magic.

Harry was wavering on his feet, barely capable of standing or even staying conscious, but he forced himself to watch as Draco Malfoy, in no better shape than he was himself, torturously transformed into a fire drake.

Draco drew in a deep breath and torched the orb with the hottest flame he could create, destroying orb, throne and bodily remains in one fell swoop. He changed back and collapsed.

Harry had been barely hanging onto consciousness while he watched the final disposal of the Dark Lord. As his vision began to grey, his last sight was Lucius running forward. Finally, he allowed himself to collapse and unconsciousness carried him away.

TBC...

Only an epilogue left to go! Please let me know what you think, I'm always worried about action scenes.


	26. Chapter 26

It's the end! The very last bit of this one! I like this chapter though, it always makes me grin ^_^.

Mythic Alliance

by Jendra

Harry's eyelashes fluttered slightly. He was so tired. He managed to open his eyes for long enough to recognize the Hogwarts infirmary before they closed once more. The last thing he noticed before falling back to sleep was a quiet voice he knew he should recognize,

What might have been hours or might have been days later, he opened his eyes again. This time, he managed to keep them open and look around blearily. He blinked as his glasses settled down onto his nose.

"Hey kiddo."

"Sirius?" Harry blinked again with confusion. He'd just woken up, it was way too early to think. Then he realized where he was, and who was sitting next to him, and pushed himself upright. "Sirius! What are you doing here? What if someone sees you?"

"I get why you're worried, but there's no need," Sirius grinned happily. "It's been a while since anyone has fainted at the sight of my manliness."

"Huh?"

"You did tell Malfoy you'd trust him if he managed to get me declared innocent, didn't you? Though personally, I'd think it would make more sense if it had happened *before* the final battle."

"You're innocent? How?"

"And all this time I thought you believed in my innocence! You're questioning it now?" Sirius looked hurt.

Harry groaned and lay back down. "Wake me up when you're making sense, will you?"

Sirius laughed. "Okay, okay. It's actually very simple. When the Aurors showed up, *after* everything was over of course, Malfoy handed over a stunned Wormtail, before getting the three of you back here. A few drops of Veritaserum, and I'm cleared of all charges."

Harry started to grin widely. "So, does that mean you're my guardian now?"

The grin started to fall off Sirius' face before he forced it back on. "Not just yet. My rights were severed when I got thrown into Azkaban, even though they shouldn't have been, since I was never convicted of anything. I have to go in front of the Wizengamot to petition to get them back. I'm sure it's just a formality though. They just want me to get checked out at St. Mungo's, make sure I'm healthy, and all of that before they let me have you. Once I get through with all the rigamarole, though, you're all mine."

Harry continued to smile. "I can't wait."

"Me neither kiddo, me neither."

"How are Draco, Severus and Mr. Malfoy?" Harry asked.

"Smelling like roses," Sirius said with disgust. "Malfoy Senior barely needed Madam Pomfrey at all, slept less than a day. Snivellus... OW! What did you do that for?" Sirius asked with a hurt look as he rubbed his head.

Harry tucked the pillow back behind his back while continuing to glare at his godfather. "Don't call him that."

"You said you didn't expect us to be friends," Sirius whined.

"I don't," Harry agreed, "but that doesn't mean you can insult him in front of me. He might not be your friend, but he is mine."

"Okay, fine," Sirius pouted. "Snape," he waited for a chastisement that didn't come, "woke up three days ago, and Madam Pomfrey let him go. Malfoy Junior woke up yesterday and is over there." He gestured to the beds on the right.

Harry looked over automatically and absently noticed the white blond hair lying two beds away. His mind however, was a bit preoccupied with other matters. "Three days ago! How long..."

"You've been unconscious for more than a week," Sirius informed him. "You missed Christmas."

"Over a week?" Harry parroted.

"Yep. Worst case of magical exhaustion Poppy's ever seen." Sirius lost the joking demeanor for the moment, and reached out to gather Harry into a hard hug. "Don't scare me like that again, Harry," he murmured into his hair. "This old heart can't take it."

Harry hugged him back, basking in the feeling, happily sure he could stay there all day. Unfortunately, the time was cut short when Madam Pomfrey came bustling in.

"Harry!" she gasped, but soon regained her composure. "It's good to see you awake at last, Mr. Potter. But you, Mr. Black, can just head on out of my hospital wing if you can't even obey a simple instruction such as 'alert me if his condition changes.' Out you go. You can tell everyone waiting that after I've checked him over and he's had something to eat, I will allow in a few people at a time. Not a minute sooner!"

Pomfrey bustled around, checking Harry over and then getting a dinner tray for him and Draco.

"How are you?" Harry asked as soon as she moved off. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, now you ask," Draco said with a huff. "Knowing your Gryffindor tendencies, I would have expected it to be the first thing out of your mouth."

"I was surprised!" Harry defended. "Besides, I'd just woken up; it took me a few minutes to remember what happened!"

"Hmph," Draco responded.

"Oh, come on, Draco, don't be like that," Harry was not in the mood to deal with a pouting Draco. "So, I'm guessing the first words out of your mouth were, 'How's Harry?'?"

"Of course," Draco said virtuously.

"Liar," Harry snorted. "You wouldn't call me Harry in public."

"I wouldn't call the hospital wing 'public', especially since the only one around when I woke up was Severus."

"Well, see, there you go," Harry jumped in. "You had Professor Snape there as a reminder of what happened. It was entirely different."

Draco looked up from his food, frowning. "And you're back to Professor Snape instead of Severus, for what reason?"

"It's nothing," Harry said airily. All his attention seemed to be on his next bite of food, but his depressed expression gave him away.

"It is not 'nothing'," Draco growled.

"It's just... Voldemort's dead," Harry finally murmured softly.

"Yes, I know, I helped with that."

"Well, it's just... there's no reason to be friends with me anymore," Harry said, so softly it could barely be heard two beds away. "We don't need to train anymore, and now you two are just as famous as I am. I'm glad for that, I really am! But I'm going to miss the detentions."

"You... you... you *idiot*!" Draco almost yelled. "We became friends long before we decided to fight Voldemort, you berk! And since nobody could know about it until now, we certainly weren't friends with you for the fame! As for Sev, he'd actually made plans to try to get guardianship of you, to get you away from the Dursleys."

Harry looked up, gobsmacked. "He did?" he whispered hopefully.

"Of course he did! He cares for you. Only someone with the intellectual capacity of a flobberworm could possibly miss that!"

"Oh," Harry said, smiling gently down at his food and finally starting to eat with a hearty appetite. Two beds away, Draco also started to eat more solidly, but stopped every once in a while to glare.

"And what has Potter done this time to put that expression on your face, Mr. Malfoy?" Professor Snape's silken tones were the first clue they had that there were now more visitors. They looked up quickly to see not only their Potions professor, but the Headmaster as well.

"He," Draco said, jerking a thumb in Harry's direction, "thinks that just because we defeated Voldemort, he's never going to get a detention again."

"Is that so, Mr. Potter? Does your arrogance know no bounds? Perhaps a detention as soon as you leave this place will deflate some of that big-headedness of yours."

Harry looked down until he could control the broad grin that wanted to take over his face. "Yes, sir," he said as sullenly as he could.

"Now, now, Severus," Dumbledore interrupted. "I'm sure it wasn't meant like that. There's no reason to give him a detention over such a little thing, now is there?"

"As you say," Severus answered, his tone annoyed.

Dumbledore settled down in the chair where Sirius had been sitting. "Now, my dear boy, it's so good to see you awake once more. We were becoming quite worried."

"I'm fine, Headmaster," Harry assured him. "I'm a little tired, but other than that, I feel great."

"That's wonderful to hear, truly wonderful. Mr. Malfoy and Professor Snape have informed me of what happened, but I would like to hear your version of events. When you're up to it, of course."

"Do I have to?" Harry whined. "I'm sure they told you everything."

"I'm afraid so," Dumbledore informed him with twinkling blue eyes and a grandfatherly smile. "The newspapers have been clamoring for an interview."

Harry's eyes widened with true panic. He still remembered the last interview he did and how Skeeter twisted his words around. He didn't want to do another one... ever!

"I see you don't care for that idea."

Harry shook his head violently. "No, sir. I don't want to do an interview."

"It's all right, child," Dumbledore patted his hand soothingly. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you, sir." Harry breathed out in relief, relaxing back into the bed.

"Well, I can see you're tired, and I certainly don't want Madam Pomfrey to take me to task about it. She's a wonderful woman, but she can yell quite loudly if someone is bothering her patients," Dumbledore informed him in a benevolent but secretive tone. "My ears are still ringing from the last time. I will see you when you feel better."

"Yes sir," Harry agreed.

"Ah, and Severus, we still need to discuss that new potion of yours," Dumbledore said, when it looked as if the professor planned to stay with his student.

Severus bent down to say something quietly to Draco, before heading to the door and the waiting Headmaster. He furtively ran his hand over Harry's covered feet as he walked by his bed.

Harry frowned down at his still unfinished tray, before a devilish thought made him grin wickedly. Before he could consider the pros and cons of his idea, he was acting on it. "Professor!" he called out.

Severus stopped at the door and turned to see what Harry wanted. With no more warning, Harry flung the spoonful of mashed potatoes straight at his Potion professor's face. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Harry was close enough that the mashed potatoes made it to their destination. It was only as Severus stood there, mashed potatoes dripping from his face, and Harry heard Draco choking behind him, that he started to think it had been a bad idea.

Severus reached up, wiped the food product away, and glared. "Detention, Potter. For a week!"

He twirled to leave the room with what little dignity he had remaining.

Harry couldn't help himself. He yelled out, "And you have a big nose!"

"A month, Potter! Detention for a month!" Severus roared as he left the room.

With Draco's laughter roaring out behind him, Harry settled back into his bed with a happy sigh and a big grin. Voldemort was gone, Sirius was free, and he had detention for a month. Could life get any better?

The End

When I wrote Mythic Alliance, the rest of the series had already been written... and I am never again writing a prequel, way too much stress. I did, however, want this story to mostly stand on it's own and be completely gen, so it was acceptable to a larger audience. I think I did that. Therefore, if you want information on the two slash sequels, it will be down there a bit. If you want to see this as a completely finished story, that's just fine with me ^_^. Hope you enjoyed this journey! I'm really hoping to get 260 reviews, so I have an average of 10 per chapter! I've been nice and haven't really begged for reviews so far so... Please! ^_^

The sequel to this story is Jade Green Eyes. It is slash of the Harry/Lucius variety and includes cross-dressing as a major part of the story. Although it will be marked M, I will not be posting graphic sex scenes to this site. In fact, I will not be posting the NC17 version of JGE or BE (Beyond Expectations, the third part of the story which also includes Mpreg) to any site outside of my yahoogroup. As I did with this story, I will be posting new chapters every Monday and Thursday... at least that's the plan right now. I will post an author's note on this story when I start to post JGE.


	27. AN

Notice!

I've started posting Jade Green Eyes! Remember the warnings guys!

For those of you that commented that you wouldn't be reading it, that's perfectly fine! I know it's not for everyone, that's why I tried so hard to make this one for everyone ^_^. For those of you that do want to read it, great!

For those of you that commented on Mythic, thank you so much! Still haven't quite made 260 reviews, but I live in hope, because I know some people don't read stories until they're done.

Jendra


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